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i cut my tongue on a broken country
A debut poetry collection about reconciling with oneself and learning to love, through a youthful, queer diasporic Korean lens
Lotus flowers, youthful hunger, and other temporary beauties intertwine to tell this coming-of-age story, a set of pulsating poems that move toward a distant memory or a flaming future.
Kyo Lee's intimate debut poetry collection is simultaneously a vulnerable confession and a micro study of macro topics including lineage, family, war, and hope. i cut my tongue on a broken country explores the Asian American diaspora, queerness, girlhood, and the relationships between and within them, pushing and pulling on the boundaries of identity and language like a story trying to tell itself.
i cut my tongue on a broken country documents a search for love. It's a eulogy for the things we gave up to get here. It's an ode to tenderness. It blossoms and bleeds in your hands.
Lotus flowers, youthful hunger, and other temporary beauties intertwine to tell this coming-of-age story, a set of pulsating poems that move toward a distant memory or a flaming future.
Kyo Lee's intimate debut poetry collection is simultaneously a vulnerable confession and a micro study of macro topics including lineage, family, war, and hope. i cut my tongue on a broken country explores the Asian American diaspora, queerness, girlhood, and the relationships between and within them, pushing and pulling on the boundaries of identity and language like a story trying to tell itself.
i cut my tongue on a broken country documents a search for love. It's a eulogy for the things we gave up to get here. It's an ode to tenderness. It blossoms and bleeds in your hands.
112 pages, Paperback
Published April 8, 2025
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245 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 13 of 13 reviews
May 28, 2025
Stunning debut collection of poetry! Striking images, inventive play with language, and wise investigation of themes like queerness, youth, religion, death, girlhood, war, and the Korean diaspora. These poems were written when Lee was only a teenager!
"To be human is to forgive most beautiful things."
"sometimes i think about marrying a woman just to piss off my mother/i'll wear a scarlet leather dress & let vengeance trail my back like a veil"
"i hope death is not a cold thing"
"This life is too wild to be translated."
"I hope the world ends / with both a bang & a whimper. / We were a worthwhile disaster."
"There is neither novelty nor nobility in death. You be the one to tell death this horrendous truth. You are closer to her."
"I hope you find / that I laughed too much / & I started too many fires / & I compensated for my lack of grace / with my abundance of love"
"If we grow up to be boring , love me / back into wildness"
"Being young is just a perpetual healing"
"Oh girlhood. i cut crop tops out of sunsets / made scrapbooks of bleached hair & pretty scars / all to please you. / Please, stay a little longer."
"You looked like you were either going to explode into a city / or shrink / into a button / & what is more lovable than impossible promises."
"we were drenched in the romance of the beginning of melancholy"
Highly recommended!
"To be human is to forgive most beautiful things."
"sometimes i think about marrying a woman just to piss off my mother/i'll wear a scarlet leather dress & let vengeance trail my back like a veil"
"i hope death is not a cold thing"
"This life is too wild to be translated."
"I hope the world ends / with both a bang & a whimper. / We were a worthwhile disaster."
"There is neither novelty nor nobility in death. You be the one to tell death this horrendous truth. You are closer to her."
"I hope you find / that I laughed too much / & I started too many fires / & I compensated for my lack of grace / with my abundance of love"
"If we grow up to be boring , love me / back into wildness"
"Being young is just a perpetual healing"
"Oh girlhood. i cut crop tops out of sunsets / made scrapbooks of bleached hair & pretty scars / all to please you. / Please, stay a little longer."
"You looked like you were either going to explode into a city / or shrink / into a button / & what is more lovable than impossible promises."
"we were drenched in the romance of the beginning of melancholy"
Highly recommended!
January 4, 2025
Deeply pentrates the heart with the raw depth on girlhood, war, religion, queerness, family, and everything in between. Truly the the title explains this poetry book well Lee cuts through tongue, eyes, heart,soul, and mind.
September 16, 2025
4.25
discussing heritage, immigration, religion, war, suicide, eating disorders, and sexual orientation, please read trigger warnings before picking this up.
heartbreaking and important, i have no words to write when the author has written them all, and so poignantly at that.
i would like to note that the use of hunger as an allegory was my favourite element of this collection.
“We look nothing alike except
for a lump in the throat from trying not to say I love you.
I do, of course, but
we don’t have to talk about it”
“Why do i suffer nostalgia
for memories i don’t want to remember?”
“The alleyways have been called Miari Texas ever since the War’s aftermath of military prostitution—thank you American soldiers for saving our economy, we’ll name our red-light districts after your spaghetti westerns”
“i swallow more of her than i can keep
salvaging history on the bathroom floor.
She devours me so carefully
as if to thread the bones out of a living fish”
“my father no longer has teeth,
instead manhood clobbered into his gums
what ugly rituals does it take
to lure hunger into the body
what ugly rituals does it take
to lure hunger out of the body
& how do i perform?”
“There are proverbs in Korean
with no English equivalent.
i break my tongue
to become a new one, one that isn’t as meaty
& oppressive on America’s lips”
“Because my tongue, on the way to becoming prayer, found tenderness on hers. Because it taught me
love does not have to start on my knees pleading.”
discussing heritage, immigration, religion, war, suicide, eating disorders, and sexual orientation, please read trigger warnings before picking this up.
heartbreaking and important, i have no words to write when the author has written them all, and so poignantly at that.
i would like to note that the use of hunger as an allegory was my favourite element of this collection.
“We look nothing alike except
for a lump in the throat from trying not to say I love you.
I do, of course, but
we don’t have to talk about it”
“Why do i suffer nostalgia
for memories i don’t want to remember?”
“The alleyways have been called Miari Texas ever since the War’s aftermath of military prostitution—thank you American soldiers for saving our economy, we’ll name our red-light districts after your spaghetti westerns”
“i swallow more of her than i can keep
salvaging history on the bathroom floor.
She devours me so carefully
as if to thread the bones out of a living fish”
“my father no longer has teeth,
instead manhood clobbered into his gums
what ugly rituals does it take
to lure hunger into the body
what ugly rituals does it take
to lure hunger out of the body
& how do i perform?”
“There are proverbs in Korean
with no English equivalent.
i break my tongue
to become a new one, one that isn’t as meaty
& oppressive on America’s lips”
“Because my tongue, on the way to becoming prayer, found tenderness on hers. Because it taught me
love does not have to start on my knees pleading.”
Read
December 19, 2025"poetry is a necessary sin
so pass over the damn fruit
& teach me viscera."
masterpiece. poetry is forever. need my own copy of this ASAP.
so pass over the damn fruit
& teach me viscera."
masterpiece. poetry is forever. need my own copy of this ASAP.
November 16, 2025
Tres estrellas y media.
Leer este libro es entrar profundamente en la mente, corazón, cuerpo y alma de Kyo Lee. Creo que nunca había leído tan íntimo. Este libro es ella, y se entretejen temas como la religión, la identidad migrante, Corea, América del Norte, los idiomas, la figura de la madre y del padre, el amor y la identidad queer, la guerra, la violencia, los TCA, ser mujer. Nada se siente forzado, ni sobre-complejizado: simplemente es ella y sus procesos. Me pareció bello y también muy fuerte.
Su escritura, si bien a veces es un poco simple o cursi, tiene aciertos complejos, dolorosos y bellos. Tiene imágenes muy claras. La violencia y el amor conviven naturalmente, sus dos caras siempre tomadas de l mano.
Siento que era leer un diario de vida. Lo cursi es también parte de nuestra mente y sentir.
Mis favoritos: Fish Market Wedding, Yellow Noise, I hope the world ends, on messy teenage martyrdom, Mirrored Self-Portrait as Frog & Man y lotus flower blooming into breasts.
💌
Leer este libro es entrar profundamente en la mente, corazón, cuerpo y alma de Kyo Lee. Creo que nunca había leído tan íntimo. Este libro es ella, y se entretejen temas como la religión, la identidad migrante, Corea, América del Norte, los idiomas, la figura de la madre y del padre, el amor y la identidad queer, la guerra, la violencia, los TCA, ser mujer. Nada se siente forzado, ni sobre-complejizado: simplemente es ella y sus procesos. Me pareció bello y también muy fuerte.
Su escritura, si bien a veces es un poco simple o cursi, tiene aciertos complejos, dolorosos y bellos. Tiene imágenes muy claras. La violencia y el amor conviven naturalmente, sus dos caras siempre tomadas de l mano.
Siento que era leer un diario de vida. Lo cursi es también parte de nuestra mente y sentir.
Mis favoritos: Fish Market Wedding, Yellow Noise, I hope the world ends, on messy teenage martyrdom, Mirrored Self-Portrait as Frog & Man y lotus flower blooming into breasts.
💌
June 25, 2025
Kyo has presented her audience with an intimate debut of her growing heart. She bares her raw soul to demonstrate some of the struggles of girlhood and the significance of finding identity amongst chaos and pressures from family and religion. Full of love and hunger, Kyo is bold and brave to touch on topics of some would consider sacrilegious. She challenges herself to make space for the new version of her becoming.
Would highly recommend this to teens trying to find a place in their own skin and their big, scary world!
Would highly recommend this to teens trying to find a place in their own skin and their big, scary world!
May 14, 2025
An incredibly impressive debut poetry collection from a young Korean Canadian queer poet living in Waterloo, Ontario. The poems in this collection show a depth of range and emotion touching on themes of the lasting legacies of war, queer identity, belonging, love (of self and others) and I really enjoyed so many of them!! A great read for Asian Heritage Month and perfect for fans of authors like Rupi Kaur.
December 23, 2025
The author does an amazing job painting images with her words. There were so many lines that made me stop and just say, “wow.” As a queer woman, I really resonated with many of the internal conflicts. I throughly enjoyed every poem and would recommend this to anyone that likes poetry that makes you reflect on the words
May 1, 2025
La manera en la que se expresa es interesante, pero es aburrida. Me aburri bastante leyendo, no lo disfruté mucho porque no habia algo que em enganchara!
May 1, 2025
Beautifully written with incredible depth of emotion and articulation of challenging themes from an 18 year old!
November 30, 2025
Oh lord, trigger warnings PLEASE
December 25, 2025
maybe the best thing I've read all year
Displaying 1 - 13 of 13 reviews