Non Fiction / Poetry
OHM editions
a project of Rain Taxi, Inc
PO Box 3840, Minneapolis, MN 55403
Limited edition
40 Pages (Chapbook, perfect bound)
$10.00 + $2.00 shipping in US, $8.00 international
5 Stars
This perfect bound chapbook was a calorie-free feast to read. Mr. Kim writes about what he sees, what he smells, life as he perceives it. His opening poem, “Eyes” takes us from just resting them for a moment to “After a night of dreams, / my head still remained heavy / from what my eyes couldn’t stop seeing.”
Not only is each poem perfectly crafted, but perfectly translated. He takes us from “Death of a Thousand Years” to “Pastoral Symphony,” a prose poem about Beethoven that brought tears to my eyes.
I love the explanations of some of the poems. “Samgyeopsal “is Korean-style grilled pork belly. He has a whole poem devoted to it. I have a Korean restaurant in my town. Guess what I’m going to try. I enjoyed his humor (kudos to the translators, as humor is hard to translate!) especially in “He Himself is Dead, Unable to Receive Mail”.
There are lines throughout this chapbook that I found gob smacking good: “Tongues itching to ejaculate words”, “Somewhere visible only in a drunken moment;”, “While the joints barely accept the request” to the final poem, “Chewing Gum” and “Gum that has been … / …grudgingly released / because the teeth were exhausted first.”
This is a wonderful book. I read it all the way through the first time, then went back and re-read it randomly. To buy this book, please go to Rain Taxi and I certainly hope you do. You may also watch the launch event here! Where you will hear the poem read in Korean by Kim Ki-taek and then in English by the translator.
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