Salvage

by Hedgie Choi

Genres: Poetry

100 pages, Paperback

Published April 8, 2025

Reviews

[Catherine · Rating 5 out of 5]

“I was living
not in the happily
ever after but
the happy middle
which is
the living one
though not
the lasting one
the one
that is
not counted
the one
that matters
only
to the one
in the story
the one
inside
the story
who cannot
hear it told”

— “The Happy Middle”

[Sam Plauche · Rating 5 out of 5]

What a phenomenal collection of poetry. Choi balances humor with thoughtful poise throughout this book with poems that look analyze higher concepts, the relationships between people and the world, and others that make the reader giggle at their humor. I had the pleasure of hearing Choi read some of these from the stage at The Whistler in Chicago and highly recommend anyone who can to go witness her read her work as it is such an experience. Choi’s humor and wit was paramount from her reading on stage just as it is clear throughout the pages of this book. This was quick to become a favorite poetry collection of mine!

[Kyle · Rating 5 out of 5]

Hedgie knows that you are worthless and that time is short. "Nothing can be explained, but / watch me try pretty hard," she writes. She's trying harder than any of us.

[Kathleen · Rating 5 out of 5]

IN MY NATURAL HABITAT

It did occur to me, yes
that babyhood is a good time
to demand boundless love

not because you are helpless
but because you are harmless.

This was at Duval and 38th right after someone honked at me because the light was green
and had been for some time.

I was on my bike, trying to grow back into something
I had grown out of, like a hermit crab rewound.

Did you know those little guys get in a line according to size so they can move into a shell that fits in quick succession and minimize the time they are exposed and homeless? I watched a video of this narrated by David Attenborough—they form an orderly queue for the exchange.
Remarkable.

But in this video
one latecomer
muscles his way in
and steals the last crab’s shell.

Remarkable.
I mean the hate I feel.

Do you know what color the light has been
in my life, generally?

You know already that I did not
really turn around and say this
to the teenager in the car.

You do not need to be told how little happened.

[Quoth the Robyn · Rating 4 out of 5]

"Resilience / is a virtue / in the worst world"

Hedgie Choi's collection, Salvage, presents language at its most exact. Choi's style of writing can be considered cutting, but is simultaneously tender and wanting. Choi has a fantastic ability to create moments in her poems that are the epicenter of feeling. It's beautiful to see how Choi uses language as a delicate scalpel to neatly open the heart and then judge its arteries. As someone who has been following Choi for years, I was so incredibly excited for this collection and I breathed a sigh of relief that it held its water.

"he brought me into the world. And later he will leave me in it."

The one drawback that I had with this collection was that some of the poems felt like filler. Because I find Choi's ability with language to be so precise, I was stumbled by the pieces that were more round. Certain poems felt more like leading poems rather than work that can stand on its own.

[Benjamin Niespodziany · Rating 5 out of 5]

This debut poetry collection by Hedgie Choi is one you need on your shelves. I was blown away by the surrealism mixed with heart mixed with humor mixed with lucid narratives. This book is fast paced and strange, funny and quirky and tender. Some poems are fifteen words long, while other longer poems feel like dreamy microfables. I can't recommend it enough.

Here's 'Last Night', one of my favorite prose poems. Period.

https://x.com/neonpajamas/status/1888...

[Elena Macdonald · Rating 5 out of 5]

gonna be thinking about the final lines of “In That Life” for a minute: “May I be / that bitch / eating crackers / knowing nothing.”

[Luci · Rating 5 out of 5]

You just simply must go read this!!!!

[Adam · Rating 5 out of 5]

Shouts to Willie, who turned me on. An excellent collection.

[Nico Heyman · Rating 4 out of 5]

but some things happened to {me} too—

colloquial without being cringey, relatable without feeling flat, impressive without obfuscating

[Alexander Pyles · Rating 4 out of 5]

A very delightful little collection that showed not only technical skill but a sensitivity and humor that is often hard to come by in poetry.

[Liz Cal · Rating 5 out of 5]

I enjoyed choi’s voice - it was causal in a way I’ve never read before but still profound. Also sometimes incredibly funny and relatable