Koffee & Kpop

Manhole Covers

The beauty of manhole covers—what of that?
Like medals struck by a great savage khan,
Like Mayan calendar stones, unliftable, indecipherable,
Not like the old electrum, chased and scored,
Mottoed and sculptured to a turn,
But notched and whelked and pocked and smashed
With the great company names
(Gentle Bethlehem, smiling United States).
This rustproof artifact of my street,
Long after roads are melted away will lie
Sidewise in the grave of the iron-old world,
Bitten at the edges,
Strong with its cryptic American
Its dated beauty

-Karl Shapiro

I also discovered a few fake manhole covers!

And some grates…

Olympic Park (올림픽 공원), located in Seoul (서울), Korea, was constructed on a prehistoric site that was later part of the Baekje (백제) kingdom, one of the Three Kingdoms of Korea. It was built to host the 1986 Asian Games and then the 1988 Summer Olympics, and today features large green spaces that are utilized in a variety of ways, from sports and picnic grounds to an open-air display of monuments and sculptures, including the World Peace Gate. Also located on site are numerous concert halls and arenas. Its mascot is OP, a white figure giving a thumbs up with one hand and a closed fist in a cheering position with the other.

Changwon (창원), Korea’s first planned city and backup capital (with underground walkways for evacuations and a road that can used be as an airplane runway in emergencies), has a mascot named Piumi (피우미). It is an anthropomorphic cherry blossom imagined as an adorable child, representing warmth and kindness. It is often seen on covers and there are many sculptures of them around the city.

And a few honorable mentions…

My most popular manhole cover to date, with 500+ likes and 25 shares.

In addition to leaning hard into the pun of its name (“고양” Goyang is the city and “고양이” goyangi means “cat”, and there are cat-themed items and murals everywhere in addition to actual stray cats being taken care of), Goyang is also home to an international flower festival.

This was taken in mid November of 2024. I love the dappled autumn sunlight with the fallen ginkgo leaves.

Manhole cover outside Dongnimmun 독립문 Arch, Seoul, Korea. Constructed in 1898 as Korea gained independence from being a tributary state of China. In front are the remains of Yeongeunmun, an arch that welcomed Chinese diplomats, which was demolished when Korea broke sadae with China.

Shoes: one of the big controversies in the manhole cover world. Many people hate seeing shoes in photos, others enjoy it–but it seems the main reason why people include their shoes is to say “I was here.” These are my second-hand Doc Martens. What you can’t see are my dinosaur socks.