Brain Fever: Poems

by Kimiko Hahn

Rooted in traditional Japanese aesthetics and meditations on contemporary neuroscience, a stunning new volume from an essential American poet. Acclaimed as "one of the most fascinating female poets of our time" ( BOMB ), Kimiko Hahn is a shape-shifter, a poet who seeks novel forms for her utterly original subject matter and "stands as a welcome voice of experimentation and passion" ( Bloomsbury Review ). In Brain Fever , Hahn integrates the recent findings of science, ancient Japanese aesthetics, and observations from her life as a woman, wife, mother, daughter, and artist. Rooted in meditations on contemporary neuroscience, Brain Fever takes as its subject the mysteries of the human mind―the nature of dreams and memories, the possibly illusory nature of linear time, the complexity of conveying love to a child. In one poem, "A Bowl of Spaghetti," she cites a comparison that researchers draw between unraveling "the millions of miles of wires in the [human] brain" and "untangling a bowl of spaghetti," and thus she untangles a memory of her own: "I have an old photo: Rei in her high chair intently / picking out each strand to mash in her mouth. // Was she two? Was that sailor dress from mother? / Did I cook that sauce from scratch? If so, there was a carrot in the pot." Equally inspired by Sei Shonagon's tenth-century Pillow Book and the latest findings of cognitive research, Brain Fever is a thrilling blend of the timely and the timeless.

Genres: Poetry, Japan

144 pages, Hardcover

First published October 6, 2014

About the author

Kimiko Hahn is the author of seven poetry collections. The Unbearable Heart won the Before Columbus Foundation’s American Book Award. She has received numerous grants, including a National Endowment for the Arts Fellowship and a Lila Wallace-Reader’s Digest Award. She teaches at Queens College/The City University of New York.

Reviews

[Ross Williamson · Rating 4 out of 5]

objectively this is excellent, but if getting to page 90 and having to read one of my favorite poets use the word “transvestite” as a metaphor in the year of our lord 2018 isn’t the most perfect possible microcosm of this entire shitshow of a year then I don’t know what is

[Eric Warren · Rating 4 out of 5]

It took me quite a while to finish reading this marvelous volume of poetry by the amazing Kimiko Hahn. Why? Well, probably because I am usually reading six or seven books of poetry at the same time. But also because unraveling her surprisingly dense, lyrical, sometimes hilarious meditations on how the Human Mind works takes time. If I am paying attention.

This is the first of Hahn's books I have read and now plan to read more. Here, the poet focuses on a couple of "vectors" or "ways in" to the poems she is crafting. One, the history of Japan, of Japan after World War II, of the US after World War II and, most pointedly, the science (art?) of Neuroscience. Hahn uses the conceit of Brain Science as a way to map her understanding of the Human Mind as only a poet could do.

My favorite poem in here is "The Dream of a Little Occupied Japan Doll". She divides her book into sections, and at least one of the sections collects poems that are "Dreams" of various people, places and objects. In this case, a remarkable object which taught me, the reader, something. An Occupied Japan Doll is a small porceclain figurine that was made after World War II in Japan, and which made its way to the US. As Hahn explains in her Notes, all products made in Japan (for some time) after World War II had to be labelled "Occupied Japan" to indicate both they were made in Japan, and that Japan, at that time, was Occupied by Allied (US?) forces.

"Among the hundred porcelain figurines,
the first one -- with slanted eyes, fat cheeks,

"queue (though that's Chinese) and Chinese bonnet --
is my favorite."

A lot to unpack there, but I will let you do it for yourself. If you love poetry, and especially if you, like me, are seeking out poetry written by Women, by Asian-American Women and others this poet and her marvelous poems are worth reading.

[Zacarias Rivera, Jr. · Rating 5 out of 5]

I love the topics of dreams, neuroscience, memories, and the way the poet uses line breaks. So fascinating and informative.

[Tristan · Rating 4 out of 5]

Kimiko Hahn's Brain Fever was difficult to rank. It was unusual and interesting, but not quite what I was expecting after her earlier The Unbearable Heart. These poems were neither the straightforward confessionals of the early part of that book nor the erratic explosions of poems like "Wisteria" and "The Hemisphere: Kuchuk Hanem". Instead, they were poems that came into and out of mystery. The vast majority of the book's poems were (roughly speaking) ekphrastic, taking inspriation, content, and/or titles from articles (mostly in the New York Times) on biology, astronomy, ecology, and neuroscience. I could not always quite manage to get the origins and the results to cohere (Hahn is very good about providing documentation for her inspiration in this book, so I had most of the quotations that she says were inspiration for the pieces), but I liked most of the poems. I tended to like the poems that accessed a sense of the mystical, rather than just of wonderment and awe, but the poems were broadly enjoyable and interesting both as poems to be consumed (readable while still forcing thinking, beautiful in sound and construction, etc.) and technically and procedurally (how did she make that effect, how might she have gotten from point a to point b in the process of composition, etc.). I also liked her included essay Luminous Vapours, which discussed the poetic process behind "The Dream of Toast" and the other "Dream" poems throughout the book.
My favorite poems were probably "Porch Light", "The Dream of Parsnips", the poems of the TIME sequence (with their very long titles), "Giraffes", "The Dream of Toast", "'Thanks to advances in neuroimaging . . .", "Breaking old habits . . .", "Brain Implant #3: Patterns", and "Erasing The Biology of Memory".
As an example of the kind of mystical or perhaps surreal element I found so appealing, here is a poem in the TIME group, "'[Some psychologists say] the findings support the philosopher Martin Heidegger's observation that time "persists merely as a consequence of the events taking place in it."'":

Water breaks
Rain on the windshield during Braxton-Hicks
Caesarean
Commencement
Standing in line for theater tickets to see Metamorphosis
Mother is always nearby with things. Pillows. Hot-water bottle. She loves her infant granddaughter more than she loves anyone, even me. And I love that.
Clutching a baby to one hip, a ladle in the other hand.
Do you recall me cooking? I can barely recall what I threw together. Yet you girls have grown to be so striking--
Standing in line at 4 a.m. to get her into the good kindergarten--that was their father--
Standing at the checkout, a child in the cart sobbing for bubble gum
Commencement. The Gulf.
A girl! A girl!
Commencement
Crowning

This is the feeling that pervades the poems I like best of the whole collection. In all, I didn't adore the book, but I think it has some true gems and it is well worth reading for any poet or fan of poetry, if only for its value as an extended meditation on Hahn's creative process and the possibilities of poetry that draws directly from the world.

[Samantha · Rating 4 out of 5]

The merging of poetry and science is one of my favorite things, and Kimiko Hahn does that in a multitude of interesting ways.

[Rebecca · Rating 2 out of 5]

I loved the idea behind this collection: poetic reflections on the brain’s workings, with actual pieces of scientific research woven through. However, the poems themselves just do not measure up. I preferred those that more obliquely touched on the theme, through memories of a Japanese-American life, such as “The Dream of a Lacquer Box.” “Black Kite, White Plastic” was the other stand-out for me, an unexpected piece of commentary on how we have altered our environment: “For black kites, white plastic is vital decor ... Before plastic? Perhaps cloth or paper.”

[Beverley Sylvester · Rating 3 out of 5]

I adore the concept of this collection and I feel that Hahn draws from scientific texts exceptionally rich with poetry. I feel, however, that the way in which she taps into this poetry falls short of the possible beauty in the merging of hard science with art. Most of my favorite parts of this book were the quotations Hahn chose from existant works, and while it is wonderful to gain exposure to these quotations, my underwhelmedness at the poetry she created using them disappointed me.

[Kate · Rating 5 out of 5]

Loved it! I'd almost forgotten this author, and I'm so glad I saw this on the bookshelf at the store.

[andré crombie · Rating 4 out of 5]

“Tell me which ocean is warmest,

tell me which shore is closest,
tell me which ship tosses trash and which plays a waltz

and how many bottles you’ve collected
containing messages from shipwrecks.”

Notes: I enjoyed the poems that played with lists and repetition more than those rooted in scientific articles (a Hahn subgenre done better in Toxic Flora, I think). I’m looking forward to reading her older collections, which I’ve read are quite different. Highlights: Wake, Safe, The Dream of a Letter Opener in the Shape of a Mermaid, Ode to Home, Fiero, Riddle, Mapping, “this huge surge…”, Encircling a Snail (this one is a gem), Balls, The Dream of Toast (very, very interesting), “Dr. Siegel…”, Brain Implant #3: Patterns.

[sylas · Rating 4 out of 5]

(SPL 2018 book bingo: a SAL speaker (past or upcoming))

[Juniper · Rating 3 out of 5]

“To value leaves rustling / before one realizes leaves?”

[Brooke Schatz · Rating 3 out of 5]

Full Star Lost for the use of transvestite as a metaphor within the past decade otherwise really enjoyed

[Alane · Rating 3 out of 5]

In my ongoing quest to make sense of my own brain fever I am picking up anything remotely related. This book of poetry was only remotely related. I kept thinking that perhaps I shouldn't be reading it while titrating neuro-meds but upon scanning other reviews, reading this just makes you feel like you're titrating neuro-meds. Huh.

The problem with boundary-pushing poetry is the reader never knows if this is something new to explore or if it just doesn't work. I have read it though twice now and still can't answer that.