Find Me as the Creature I Am: Poems

by Emily Jungmin Yoon

From one of the sharpest up-and-coming voices in American poetry, a stunning collection that explores our most fundamental instincts, capacity for affection, and the ways we resemble the wild.Find Me as the Creature I Am is a book full of tenderness and violence, longing and love. Ranging from inherited family tales, to meditations on the body, to the ways animals display love and grief alike, Emily Jungmin Yoon holds a mirror up to humanity to show that we are animal, too. In poems full of wonder and want, she showcases our tendencies to fight or fly, act with affection and cruelty, and ultimately, overflow with life itself.“And when I say we are beasts, / is that a metaphor?” Yoon asks, exploring the ways we—like language, like any creature—stem from our surroundings. Braiding together reflections about the natural world, family heritage, and adoration, Yoon shows that what passes between us—body-to-body, generation-to-generation—is what defines a life. Deeply felt and beautifully crafted, Find Me as the Creature I Am is a rapturous collection by a rising star in the poetry landscape.

Genres: Poetry, Audiobook

80 pages, Hardcover

Published October 22, 2024

About the author

Emily Jungmin Yoon is the author of A Cruelty Special to Our Species (Ecco Books, September 2018) and Ordinary Misfortunes (Tupelo Press, July 2017), winner of the Sunken Garden Chapbook Prize. Her poems and translations have appeared in The New Yorker, New York Times Magazine, Poetry, and elsewhere. She has received awards and fellowships from the Poetry Foundation, Ploughshares’ Emerging Writer’s Contest, AWP’s WC&C Scholarship Competition, The Home School in Miami, the Aspen Institute, New York University, the University of Chicago, Money for Women/Barbara Deming Memorial Fund, and Sarah Lawrence College Summer Seminar for Writers. She is the Poetry Editor for The Margins, the literary magazine of the Asian American Writers’ Workshop, and a PhD student in Korean literature at the University of Chicago.

Reviews

[Melissa Stordahl · Rating 5 out of 5]

Full review coming later, but I loved this! There is a poem about the Greenland shark that will be going up on my office wall. :)

[nathan · Rating 4 out of 5]

Major thanks to NetGalley and Knopf for sending me an ARC of this book in exchange for my honest thoughts:

A beautiful and thoughtful collection on the body and its beastly qualities, diving into race, identity, and relationships, both carnal and familial.

What is the body but a pair of hooves or claws to rip through the brushes of life? I could not help but think what it is I am meant to do on this puny planet outside of survival. But Yoon shows us that we are much more beyond survival. We are work. A piece of work.

“We’re working on our lives.”

[Sonja · Rating 5 out of 5]

I want to give more stars... Truly a great book of poetry, capturing so much about our times, yet resting in the arms of love. And the hope to come back as a “beautiful bird.”

My heart pounds for more or to read the book again. Reading one poem, I felt the tears start as if they were pulling out of me, not welling but tugging and pulling. I know poems and styles appeal to different people but this— this is like a mixture of Ada Limón and Gertrude Stein. I know you may not like Gertrude but she gave us a lot to think about, like Emily Jungmin Yoon has.

The book is by Emily Jungmin Yoon, a Korean poet, translator and scholar who lives in Korea and Hawaii. This is not her first book and acknowledges so many people who influenced and helped her with her writing.

Find Me as the Creature That I Am is a brilliant book of poetry. Just a taste from the poem “We do not have to touch everything we love”:

All I am left with is seriousness.
I am busy with everything. Everyone is busy trying
To laugh. The seal and the turtle are trying
to sleep. The dolphins are trying
to sleep. No there is no “eco-friendly” way to swim with dolphins.
We don’t have to touch everything we love.

There is in this book thoughts and feelings about our current crisis of worry about the future and survival. But there is also much about a love for the world and being in love and the longing for life.
#netgalley

[Kristina Finseth · Rating 4 out of 5]

It's been a hot minute since I devoted some time to read poetry, but Emily Jungmin Yoon's upcoming release did not disappoint.

Find Me as the Creature I am is a unique poetry collection exploring identity, trauma, and transformation. Using mythological and animal imagery, Yoon reflects on her experiences as a Korean immigrant, weaving personal and collective stories of displacement, resilience, and self-discovery.

I can't begin to relate to the experiences of marginalization Yoon shares through some of her poetry, but my husband is Korean and my youngest daughter is half Korean. So, my hope is that this helps me better understand those deep feelings around identity and be an ally for them and others in the community.

A huge thank you to @aaknopf and @netgalley for the advance copy in exchange for my honest review.

This is a ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ read for me.

If you want to get your hands on a copy, the pub date is right around the corner on 10/22/24.

[Rebecca · Rating 3 out of 5]

The Korean American poet’s second full-length work is broadly about loss experienced or expected – but also about the love that keeps us going in dire times. The free verse links personal bereavement with larger-scale tragedies, including climate grief. “All my friends who loved trees are dead” tells of Yoon’s grandmother’s death, while “I leave Asia and become Asian” remembers the murders of eight Asian spa workers in Atlanta in 2021. Violence against women, and the way the Covid-19 pandemic spurred further anti-Asian racism, are additional topics in the early part of the book. For me, Part III’s environmental poems resonated the most. Yoon reflects on the ways in which we are, sometimes unwittingly, affecting the natural world, especially marine ecosystems: “there is no ‘eco-friendly’ way to swim with dolphins. / We do not have to touch everything we love,” she writes. “I look at the ocean like it’s goodbye. … I look at your face / like it’s goodbye.” This is a tricky one to assess; while I appreciated the themes, I did not find the style or language distinctive. The collection reminded me of a cross between Rupi Kaur and Jenny Xie.

Originally published on my blog, Bookish Beck.

[*.✧ m i k h a ✧.* · Rating 4 out of 5]

Imagine being tamed. Learning to be still...

4.5☆ - Find Me as the Creature I Am was acceptance and refusal all at once. Reflections of self, of grief, of life, and of identity. There is much to learn from this collection about one's self and the experience of a poet of color. Yoon seemed to probe the readers to reflect on their own experiences as a person - a beast, a creature, living with what they have and what's been given.

[Ags · Rating 4 out of 5]

I like this very much! Pulled me in right away with an excellent first poem (funny, sweet, thought-provoking), and this collection is very short (felt like a chapbook?), so I finished it quickly.

Per usual, I liked the poems being divided into sections - I like this book's use of "prologue" and "epilogue" sections in particular. The humor and sweetness, and horror and sadness, are well-balanced throughout the book, which I also appreciated. I'm a sucker for love poems and poems that use animals and humor, so this was right up my alley.

These poems both stand well on their own, and read together as a collection nicely. The theming is pretty disparate (e.g., death of an elder, marriage love, climate crisis, racism, beauty in nature, humans as animals), but these poems always felt like they were pulled from the same pallet in a nice way.

The long poem "I leave Asia and become Asian" was once published as an essay, and it definitely felt like an essay more than a poem to me. But I am just a plebian. As the poet might say: find me as the creature I am. Roll credits.

[Sacha · Rating 5 out of 5]

5 stars

Emily Jungmin Yoon is a completely new writer to me, but I am looking forward to getting much more familiar with this work. These poems feature a fresh voice, ecocritical insights, and emotional depth. I also found them extremely accessible, which means they meet my most important need for any new (to me) poetry collection: teachable.

I'm really looking forward to teaching some of these to my college students and to reading more from this writer.

*Special thanks to NetGalley and Knopf for this arc, which I received in exchange for an honest review. The opinions expressed here are my own.

[Ann (Inky Labyrinth) · Rating 3 out of 5]

Review to come!

(Thank you Knopf for the gifted review copy!)

[Amanda · Rating 4 out of 5]

I read this is one sitting - beautifully done. I particularly enjoy when a body of work feels so intimate to the author and still deeply emotional for the reader. I've read a lot of great poetry this year that I have learned from, but most didn't quite reach my heart. Find Me as the Creature I am did both.

Thanks to NetGalley and Knopf for the digital arc. All opinions my own.

[Cindy · Rating 5 out of 5]

I’ve cried sad angry and happy tears but I’ve never shed tears just because something is beautiful until this book.

First, there was the horse.

Imagine creatures as majestic,
standing. All their lives they stand, withholding.

Imagine being tamed. Learning to be still,
to be speed. Imagine birds as large

as horses. We would be flying, grabbing
a majestic creature by its collar.

The beauty of such a creature makes me cry. The rest of the poem goes on to be conceptually brilliant.

Humans have ruined the earth and I wish with all my being that animal poachers get karma. Despite this Emily writes with much compassion for the human race. There’s poetry that appeals to your emotions and there’s poetry that is brilliant but Emily’s work always has both.
I’ve read most of these poems already through magazines she submits to but reading it for the first time on hardcover made me appreciate it just as much.
Please buy the hardcover if you have the means it is beautiful.

[J · Rating 5 out of 5]

Yoon's poems are always a delight to read. I didn't expect these poems to be as eco-conscious as they ended up being (and I don't mean this in a bad way by any means), but I found them powerful in how we think about our relationship with nature and the consequences of climate change. The second section (a single long poem) sort of stood out oddly to me, only because it was a complete shift in focus (and tone, to some extent) from the first and third sections. I really enjoyed this poem and the way Yoon tackled the complexities of the Asian/Asian American identity, but it was a curious addition to the collection.

As always, though, Yoon's poems continue to be delicately and intimately crafted.

(Thank you to the publisher for sending me a finished copy!)

[Karina · Rating 5 out of 5]

I felt such companionship with these poems, so many of which excavate the emotional dissonance that results from being human in the Anthropocene. This world is so beautiful yet so vulnerable to our species’ disrespect. The niche experiences and emotions of this lived experience are plentiful and Yoon really takes her time to isolate these moments and images, to give them a voice, give them time and consideration. I want to make a nest out of these poems, to allow myself to be fed by them, to let them nourish me and contribute to my survival. Yoon is a new favorite poet and I will gobble up anything she writes next.

[pj · Rating 5 out of 5]

this was IT for me!

thank you netgalley and the publisher for the eARC!!!

i haven’t been excited by a contemporary poetry collection … perhaps ever, but especially not like this. each poem takes up its own unique space in the collection and i found the conversation that the text has both with itself and with me as the reader to be exactly the conversation that i’ve been needing to have recently.

this is beautifully written and the blending together of the experience of life on earth that of being in love and being a young woman is something that i have yet to see written about in such a way. i simply have to find me of emily jungmin yoon’s poetry because this collection is a new favorite!

[Scarllet ✦ iamlitandwit · Rating 5 out of 5]

I want my life
to be a poem. I want my life to be
a poem. The future of a poem is mystery.
Writing toward uncertainty, I locate beauty.
In this process I harvest joy.

Brushed by wind into the night, you lift a stone.
You find me as the creature that I am,
staring up at you.

I definitely need to get my own copy because I was reading and wanting to underline and write my heart out on the sides of these beautiful poems. This collection is so honest and so beautiful it reminds me of how beautiful the world we live in is.

[Natalie Park · Rating 4 out of 5]

Thank you to Net Galley and Knopf for the ARC in exchange for my honest review. This book will be published on October 22, 2024. These touching poems ranged from belonging and what does Asian American mean, the prejudice that Asians suffered during the pandemic and the mass shooting in Atlanta, how we treat animals and humans, women's bodies and family. They are beautifully written and I very much appreciated the author's perspective.

[Dillon Allen-Perez · Rating 5 out of 5]

After reading this book I’m going to start all my work messages with “I hope this email finds you as the creature you are.”

There is a lot of humanity in these poems. Then again, “humanity” may not be the correct word, because there is a compassion for all living beings in Emily Jungmin Yoon’s poetry. There is also a tension between collectivism and individuality—freedom and what it means to fight for personal freedoms as part of a connected “community”. By the last page, Yoon’s poetry has made you think, but—more importantly—it has made you feel. Also important: it is easy to read.

Sitting down with this book is like sitting with a new friend but somehow it feels like you have shared past-lifetimes full of experiences together. It feels both like you just met and also you have finally met again after too much time has gone by. Neither of you wants to leave. So, you will stay seated, determined to get to wherever a conversation ends—whatever “elsewhere” that is, as Yoon might describe it. You will finish the book and it will finish you.


[I received a free copy of this book from the publisher in exchange for an honest review]

[Meghana N · Rating 4 out of 5]

Thank you to NetGalley, the publisher and the author for the opportunity to review this Advanced Reader Copy!

Emily Jungmin Yoon's "Find Me as the Creature I Am" is a book of previously published poems collected here and presented with common themes of nature, animals, the body, family, love, and violence. Her poems explore our natural instincts to fight, flee, and be kind or cruel. Yoon shows how we are shaped by our surroundings, blending ideas about nature, family, and love, and it is evident that the collection is a heartfelt and beautifully written work by a rising poet. It is short read, and each poem is only about a page or two long.

Some of my favorite lines are:
- "Her grave is contracted for fifty years, another thing I learn--where our bodies lie are temporary exhibits."
- "My mother studies the soil clinging to the living left behind, my grandmother's trees."
- "I want nothing to change, then wait for my life to change."

I enjoyed certain parts of this collection. While reading it, I saw parallels with my own upbringing and identity as an immigrant and person of color. She writes about how her identity was "reflected and refracted" in ways she "didn't always expect, want or understand" and I feel this deeply when consuming contemporary media. She also writes about how she got a journal so that she could be her own historian in an act of self-preservation against forces that distort and diminish her. As someone who avidly journals myself, I can Identify with this need to feel in control of my narrative. I felt like the author touched on several topics that I found quite beautiful, such as her sick grandmother and the accidentally captured greenland shark. Her poem "Vow" was a beautiful one I can imagine being read in front of a broad audience.

There were parts of the novel that didn't quite resonate with me. I found some of the topics and her personal experiences to be ones that I have heard before, with no new interpretation or fresh perspective. While I have no doubt that her experiences were harrowing and unfortunately all-too-common occurrences (one that I and many of my POC friends have underwent ourselves), I also feel like such experiences are over-described in the literature and media, to the point where, as a reader, I was hoping to see something new. Although, in the author's defense, perhaps the title is a nod to the reader to accept the experiences of the author as true to themself, in which case I could probably be more understanding and less critical. And to the unacquainted reader hoping to learn more about the Asian American and immigrant perspective, these poems might be more illuminating.

I also didn't respond to her jarring references to contemporary events. I'm not sure if it is the topics themselves that feel exhaustive to contemplate as a reader, or if it is simply the discordant ways in which these topics were introduced and described. I found myself experiencing some whiplash in a few of the poems, which seemed to be describing abstract concepts, only to plop the reader back to reality with rather trite, overdone or random references. I understand this could be due to personal preference, and that perhaps this is the author's style, which I am unfamiliar with. The author is highly accomplished, with several awards and a current professorship, which undoubtedly enriches her work. Because of this, I hesitate to dismiss it entirely. However, I feel like many of her poems are lacking in a significant depth. To each their own, and certainly there were some pearls in this book, but the poems largely did not garner strong emotions for me. Overall, I feel that the author is skilled and has decent ideas, although I feel the execution could use some work.

[Michelle Heinrich · Rating 5 out of 5]

“Promise me you will find me in our next life, I urge. I have no confidence I won't be born non-human.

Or maybe that will be considered lucky. Maybe I am not lucky enough to be born a beautiful bird.

Brushed by wind into the night, you lift a stone. You find me as the creature that I am, staring up at you.”
- From “Next Lives” by Emily Jungmin Yoon


This is another of my books from my partner’s curated Christmas gift…

To be honest, I rarely indulge in simply reading an entire book of poetry. It can be overwhelming with beauty and meaning, akin to eating an entire birthday cake in one sitting. And so I began, “Find Me as the Creature I Am,” poems by Emily Jungmin Joon. I had planned to read a poem or two at a time, interspersed with other activities and possibly other reading.

But that was not to be. Instead, I found myself drawn into the spare, tender, honesty of her words. And I devoured the entire book - nearly twice - in one day.

Joon’s poems encompass experience on many levels. “I Leave Asia and Become Asian,” tells of the experience of growing up Korean in North America, of the Western male gaze, and the complicated, dangerous wonders of being who she is. In “All My Friends Who Loved Trees Are Dead,” she writes of her grandmother’s death through the lens and language of nature. “Evolution” and “Vow” are perfect love poems, not frothy like wedding cake, but fraught and honest and moving.

Animals and nature figure strongly in her work, often in gorgeously tragic ways. There is much death here, death of animals and of humans, death of species and of ways of living and believing, but there is always beauty and there is always hope. “Greenland Shark,” was perhaps my favorite poem. I debated sharing it here in its entirety, but chose to share it elsewhere instead.

Uncommonly for poetry, I learned things in book. Names for storms, acts of public violence, the extinction of species frequent themes, inviting the reader to perhaps read more about them, but also to consider their impact on human life. A single line about a golden tire in “Gray Areas” took me down a rabbit hole to investigate an ill-conceived manmade reef in Florida, and “Elsewhere,” another favorite poem made me consider animal suicide and taught me of the fate of Kathy the Dolphin. (Please note, despite my description, “Elsewhere” is not truly a depressing poem, instead it is rather uplifting.) “Mudflat Story” describes a part of the world I have never known of. Joon’s poetry is somehow uplifting and edifying, moving and tragic all at once.

This review does not do the book justice, but it is difficult for me to describe the beauty of Joon’s writing in my own, plain words. Poetry is ephemeral - even poetry as earthy and honest as Joon’s. All I can say is that I loved it.

[Brice Montgomery · Rating 5 out of 5]

Thanks to NetGalley and Knopf for the ARC!

Replacing the urgency of its predecessor with quiet tenderness, Find Me as the Creature I Am sees Emily Jungmin Yoon exploring what it means to be creaturely.

Upon a first read, these poems might strike readers as a little scruffier and scrappier than Yoon’s other work. A Cruelty Special to Our Species is so rooted in a particular cultural and historical experience that the shift to universality here might be viewed as simplistic.

However, with a little attention—and this is all the speaker asks for—readers are invited to consider where they fit into their ecosystem. There are still themes surrounding race and embodiment at play in this book, but they are re-contextualized through the lens of a world bigger than humanity. We read about the contrast between Frozen II promoting ecological care while its merchandise chokes the ocean, and we encounter the complicated ambiguities of why some animals end their lives when their partners die.

Despite the heaviness of some of the subject matter, this book feels like the relieved recognition that poetry isn’t everything. In “I leave Asia and become Asian”, the speaker follows a complex reflection on race by noting that she is “working on her life” instead of another poetry collection. The statement feels like the origin of many of these pieces, particularly in the way they favor a comfortable immediacy instead of a mechanistic, pre-meditated precision.

In other words, they feel creaturely.

Many of these poems feel like an argument for unburdened and unquestioned love—an animal reflexivity and disinterest in psychological scrutiny. They are quiet I love yous in the face of ecological uncertainty.

The world might end; it might not. Either way, the speaker will be with her loved ones.

[kellylikestoread · Rating 4 out of 5]

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for allowing me to read this as an ARC!

I'm never sure how to rate or talk about poetry (I feel like I start off each review like this lol). To me, poetry is supposed to be an elevation of the subject in a nearly superfluous way. This is not that. And that is not a dig at her work! At all! Her poems were very conversational, as though she was sitting across from me just talking about it. It's not a style I prefer, but I think it worked well for the topics she discussed. In fact, handling them in the way I prefer likely would've been the wrong way to go, as it would end up removing the realistic aspect and basically been a disservice to her past, experiences, and the topics touched upon.

My main qualm is that the first poem ends in a moment that the second poem is entirely about, and it threw me off as the emotions within the two come across very different. I did a double take and needed a moment to reassess.
A second issue I had was the one poem that related to horses. I'm very much a horse girl and found it to be a stretch to relate the two, but I think that's because I know just too much about horses. It may also be related to a small, recent sourness due to being dumped into a wall by my own horse literally two days before! Horses aren't so majestic when they gift you giant purple bruises lol. And they certainly don't come across as "tame" in that moment either!

Overall, I would recommend this collection of poetry.

[Esther Button · Rating 3 out of 5]

ah, the first book I’ve finished in, like, a month? Life really gets in the way. Between finishing uni and saying goodbye to that, moving, starting a 9-5 office job, adjusting to all the newness, my hobbies have deserted me. But I’m getting them back. Who am I if I’m not reading?

this poetry collection is great. Some of the poems really really hit me. and the title is gorgeous. It’s just what I needed.

“Her grave is contracted for fifty years, another thing I learn—where our bodies lie are temporary exhibits.” (All my friends who loved trees are dead)

“People like me more when I’m silly / but I’ve forgotten how to make jokes. / all I’m left with is seriousness.” (We do not have to touch everything we love)

“Pleasure is not the same as joy, I’m told. / But if pleasure is all one can afford?” (In the age of goodbyes I)

“If the only world is a hell with my siblings, I thought, I should feel lucky to call this world home.” (Gala)

“Brushed by wind into the night, you lift a stone. / You find me as the creature that I am, / staring up at you.” (Next Lives)

rating as of 23/08/2025: 3 stars

[Christina Silva · Rating 4 out of 5]

This ARC was generously provided by the publisher through NetGalley. Thank you!

Foolish and naïve, yes. Every day someone leans the shovel and knife, real and not, against a gentler thing, after striking another that looks like us.

In this era of brevity in this era of metal in this era of abbreviation, yes, I’m trying to make you think of me longer.

Brushed by wind into the night, you lift a stone. You find me as the creature that I am, staring up at you.

Poignant, raw, and eye-opening. I love the way the author incorporated nature into this collection. This included some heavy topics, like racism and loss, but the writing was beautiful. I was aware of the heightened racism aimed at Asians as a result of the pandemic, but this really humanized it for me (as a white woman who has not directly experienced this). 4 stars!

[Tamzen · Rating 5 out of 5]

The poetry published this year has been fantastic. This collection from Emily Jungmin Yoon covers beauty, racism, identity, love, and family. For such a small book, it covers so much, and is done so elegantly. My favorite poem, I leave Asia and become Asian, is one of the longest poems in here, beginning with how the author moved with her family from Korea to Canada, and vignettes bits of her life with events that were happening as well (I don't want to sugarcoat it, I just don't want to spoil the poem really.) It is a bit devastating. There is hope within the poems as well.

In conclusion: highly recommend! See if your library or local bookstore has it!

Thanks to Alfred A Knopf for the ARC!

[Tiffany · Rating 4 out of 5]

Crying while reading poetry doesn't happen to me very often, but the way Emily Jungmin Yoon weaves language to create vivid imagery and thought-provoking emotions got to me several times while reading this collection of poems.
The poems explore humanity's relationship with nature and each other in a way I don't think I expected when I started the book. I really sat with this one for a while before I could begin to put words down for even a basic review. It is so very good!
If you enjoy poetry, add this to your tbr then rush out and buy it!


Thank you NetGalley and the publisher for the dARC of this work in exchange for my honest review.

[Michaela · Rating 5 out of 5]

"What I want to do is slow down time."

"When we watch each other, we are watching ourselves."

"People like me more when I'm silly but I've forgotten how to make jokes. All I'm left with is seriousness. I am busy with everything. Everyone is busy trying to laugh."

"We do not have to touch everything we love."

"No one is too small to make a difference, not even a balloon."

"I look at the ocean like it's goodbye."

"I want nothing to change, then wait for my life to change."

Beautiful, haunting, exceptional. Loved peering into Emily Jungmin Yoon's mind and learning about her life, her love, her heart and soul. A special collection, indeed.

[Tiffany Mackay · Rating 4 out of 5]

"Find Me as the Creature I Am" by Emily Yoon is a lyrical and thought-provoking poetry collection. As I read through the verses, I found myself drawn into Yoon's exploration of identity.

The poems are rich with vivid imagery and personal reflections that resonated with me on an emotional level. I was especially moved by the pieces that delved into the complexities of cultural belonging and the process of self-discovery in a new environment. For me, this book is a powerful and insightful read.

[Dez (inkcoffins) · Rating 3 out of 5]

This deeply reflective collection of poetry is deft and evocative – ranging from universally human and existential subjects to specific cultural experiences, it demonstrates the author’s acutely attuned perspective on the world and how we navigate it (for better or worse).

While the collection starts off strong, it gets a little meandering and cumbersome in the back half. However, it ends on an eerily prescient final poem (from which the title is derived) that does a lot to underscore the talent for imagery and observation that Yoon wields.

Thank you to Knopf for the advance copy!

[Shameem · Rating 5 out of 5]

Thanks as always to Knopf/PRH for such impactful reads.

This collection from Emily Jungmin Yoon is devastating and beautiful. Before I read it, I had seen it described as violent and tender, and had wondered how those two sentiments could coexist in writing. But I can confirm that such violence and tenderness are woven together page after page, as Yoon exquisitely lays out meditations on family, history, nature, love, grief, bodily existence, and the connection between human and animal.

If you’re looking for a powerful poetry collection to read, I hope you’ll pick up this one.

[Ada · Rating 4 out of 5]

Llegir aquest llibre just després d'haver llegit Minae Mizumura ha sigut una casualitat bonica. Hi ha una part d'aquest col·lecció dedicada a la noció de "Asian" i "Asian American", conceptes amb els que també es focalitza Mizumura en molts moments de la seva novel·la.
Alguns poemes em semblen preciosos, precisos, treballats. Alguns, no molts, m'han semblat més fluixos. Crec que Jungmin Yoon fa molt bé això: aproximar-se al tòpic i després portar-ho a un lloc més inesperat. Camina una fina línia que he disfrutat.