[New Book] Looking Back, That Place Was Heaven

[The Financial News] The poet set out on a long journey to the United Republic of Tanzania in order to meet a young girl, Nema Nikodemu, whom he had been sponsoring since 2019. The girl, whom he first saw in a photograph at the age of eight, had grown to fifteen by the time he finally met her in person.
Ra Taejoo has published a poetry collection titled Looking Back, That Place Was Heaven, which captures the seven days he spent in the United Republic of Tanzania in verse. The book is divided into three parts and contains 134 poems. It also includes 62 pencil drawings by the poet himself.
In particular, Part Three, titled "Faraway Place," recalls the locations where the poet’s body and mind once stayed, conveying the message that ordinary days, when accumulated, become a life.
He said, "I see four things as paths that can change a life, as turning points: illness, failure, reading, and travel," adding, "I am left with a strong regret that I did not go earlier."

rsunjun@fnnews.com Yoo Seon-jun Reporter