In In the Longer Scheme of Things, poet Yi-Chin Lo gazes upon life's deep scars, realizing that while years dissolve intense hatred, love remains vivid. Through his visits to a traditional Chinese medicine clinic and Baoan Temple, the episode captures fragile human beings confronting life’s sudden blows and seeking solace through prayer. Meanwhile, South Korean band cotoba transforms the poem’s inherent melancholy into a straightforward, invigorating musical style, using dynamic contrast to tenderly embrace once-unresolvable heartaches. More than a striking artistic dialogue, it shows how decades spent untangling past anguish can turn lingering obsession into an internal short film—gently making peace with existence.
Can a single poem change the world? "Like a Rolling Poem 2" continues the spirit of poetry-based musical documentary, filming and producing six poems transformed into songs — confronting the existential questions of our time head-on: "I Want to Live with You" explores loneliness and longing for self; "Lullaby of the North-Link Railway" gazes at the turning of eras and the fear of farewell; "A Romantic Thing" dissects trauma and the pathological attachment born from love and hatred sharing the same root; "The Cat That Walks Through Walls" reflects on the illusion and imperfection amid historical displacement; "Watching for a Longer While" overturns the equivalence between love and hatred, choosing tenderness instead; and finally, "Doomsday Blues" faces geopolitical crisis head-on, finding resilience in the everyday. This is not only an encounter between modern poetry and contemporary music, but also a philosophical inquiry into humanity. Even if the world is but an illusion, a fleeting dream, we still hold the freedom to choose kindness and love — and with that, we keep beating, keep rolling on.
