Among the people who take an active part in the mass literature creation activities are builders of the Sogu public building construction company of the Phyongjin construction management bureau under the Pyongyang Construction Commission.

“It might be unbelievable that builders, who are neither poets nor writers, created more than 400 poems. Many builders, however, have developed into ‘poets’ or ‘writers’ through their life throbbing with the breathing of the golden age of construction,” said a company official.

The company with a history of over 70 years boasts thick collections of poems created by builders. Poems “Our Prosperous Pyongyang”, “We Are Builders” and “Construction Speed in Pyongyang” fully reflect their ardent fighting spirit, optimistic life and high ideal.

“Actually, I hesitated when I thought about writing a poem for the first time. But the new streets we built through creative labour and the daily improving appearance of Pyongyang inspired me to write poems,” said Ji Myong Ho, worker of workshop No. 1.

Their poems are increasing still now at the construction site of Hwasong Street where they are making innovations every day.

One of them is often publicized from a loudspeaker at the construction site. The poem says that the competition graph lines at the site rising up along with magnificent structures indicate the height of the capital city builders’ conscience.

Other poems contain the pride of taking part and performing feats in the grand project for the construction of 50 000 flats in Pyongyang, the pleasure and pride of a scaffold worker operating a huge crane while enjoying a bird’s eye view of the daily changing city and the gratitude to the country for awarding an original builder high state commendations and allotting to him a new house of the Pothong Riverside Terraced Houses District called a village of patriots and luxury residential district.

The builders expressed their life full of optimism in their poems.

A poem “Uncommon sports game of couples, family art contest” reflects their colourful activities, including a heated sports game in which both builders and their wives took part, a vocal duet of an innovator couple and the cheering of the builders’ family members.

At the construction site, builders often get together for a joint review of their literary works during breaks.

Therefore, so many ideas and opinions are proposed to complete them that they might be thought to be the ones created by the collective.

A company official said proudly that many works created by the builders are carried in publications.

The poems written by the builders add to enthusiasm for creation at the construction site.