the early poems of kim kwang-lim, included in his poetry collection "sorrow of a grafted tree" ("sangsimhaneun jeommok") published by baekjasa in 1959, overflow with the raw pain and suffering endured as a result of the korean war. after the armistice in 1953, kim's poems evince a diminished attention to issues pertaining to the war or korean society in general and a growing interest in describing phenomena, with a focus on visual imagery.