Disintegration Made Plain and Easy

by Kiik Araki-Kawaguchi

Disintegration Made Plain and Easy is the debut poetry collection from Kiik Araki-Kawaguchi. In this book, you will find surreal, absurd, dreamspeak poems full of humor, autobiographical mistruths, pop culture references, and heartfelt abstractions. With poems previously featured in Washington Square, Action Yes, Electric Lit, Your Impossible Voice, and many others, this 100 page book comes complete with line art illustrations from Gautam Rangan.

"I am laughing and frightened and not sure which way to turn." - Lemony Snicket

"I go weak when I read Kiik's book." - Joanna Ruocco

"Cozy and deranged." - Brian Evenson

“A gorgeous gut punch.” - Carol Guess

"Kiik’s brain is an endangered species." - Brandon Shimoda

"I hope you are ok with nudity." - Zachary Schomburg

Genres: Poetry

102 pages, Paperback

First published May 27, 2025

About the author

Kiik Araki-Kawaguchi writes dreampop speculative fictions and darkwave minimalist poetry that can be enjoyed on a bus ride or in line for coffee. All his best stories have something to do with talking insects. His best poems are X-Men fan fiction. He is the author of DISINTEGRATION MADE PLAIN AND EASY and THE BOOK OF KANE AND MARGARET.

Reviews

[Marc · Rating 4 out of 5]

(I am almost done this and will likely finish a little later today... )

It may be that all you need to know in terms of deciding whether you want to read this collection is that it contains the phrase:

Uncle McCreeptits

(I will make an emergency assessment after finishing to see if I feel you need anything additional.)

--------------------------------

(It is later today. I have finished.)

Some writers zig when you expect them to zag. Araki-Kwaguchi death drops when you expect him to whisper. An unfettered collection, this first book put out by Piazama Press packs a lot of punch for such a slim debut. I knew the author thanks to previously enjoying his prose (The Book of Kane and Margaret), but I had no idea what to expect from his poetry. Absurd. Silly. Sexual. Tangential. File under: Not Easily Categorized.

Favorites:
- what a man needs
- hapas are so much hotter than anything
- my weakness is for my little pony
- introduction

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(a sample for you)

"where is all this blood coming from"

Where is all this blood coming from
The sky is the obvious answer

Where the second ocean lives
The twin sister who could levitate

She always brought birds to the potluck
Her dreams are a bit upside-down

As a result they are too honest
And she is flagellated

Honesty is also its own punishment
As is being a short man

Why is good shit up so high father
Because that is where it began

[Claire Hopple · Rating 5 out of 5]

“Already gnawing the animal
before inventing my fire”

&

“to moth myself upon”

…will forever stick with me. Genius, absurd, lil book!

[Burgi Zenhaeusern · Rating 5 out of 5]

Disintegration Made Plain and Easy throws your own readerly (and probably some other) expectations back at you, and yes, they may well disintegrate in the being toyed with, rattled, and generally blown about. Let go and give in to the sequence of riotous rides this collection provides. Get caught in the constantly morphing web of echoes and allusions that never quite materialize before the next shapeshift occurs. There'll be satire, irony, and moments of hilarity as well as marvel. Delicate illustrations (by Gautam Rangan) along the margins add to the many layers of these thoroughly composed pieces.

[TK421 · Rating 4 out of 5]

Reading this poetry collection is akin to being trapped in a funhouse that is no longer fun but deeply fascinating. So many of these poems need to be revisited in the coming months in order to unlock their full meaning. Fuck, this was great.

[Matt McBride · Rating 5 out of 5]

I read this almost entirely in 45 minute bursts outside my daughter's dance class. I think that's the ideal environment to consume this book. One room was playing hip-hop, another, Disney soundtracks. Children were screaming and it was hard to tell whether or not a few were also crying. The man next to me was in a large poncho. The same girl went to the bathroom a dozen times.

[Angel Dionne · Rating 5 out of 5]

I’m so glad I finally made time to read Kiik Araki-Kawaguchi’s Disintegration Made Plain and Easy, published by Piżama Press earlier this year.

The poems are bizarre, absurdist, and so succulent that I would bite into these overly ripe kumquat verses if I weren’t so afraid they’d bite back. Kiik flashes images that are by turns disturbing and darkly humorous. Bambi’s mother is a fricassee. A thrush eats the poet’s name from his lover’s ear.

In this collection, Kiik is a witch who eats sticks. Children laugh and rub butter on him. He “shapeshifts into a puddle of flesh of rain,” and when the lights come on, like some sacred insect, Kiik “deflates and he crawls inside his tiny box.” What a strange world he has pieced together in these poems, and what a puzzling meditation on death it is.

Even the poem titles taunt us with unanswerable questions. Where is all this blood coming from? Why are pigs delicious? Everything feels at once familiar yet hallucinatory, like falling asleep on your grandparents’ sofa with a 102-degree fever. What else can I say about a collection that tastes of marmalade and loneliness and sheet cake, other than: “no darling no fear.”

[Chrissy Stegman · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is not self-help. This is self-deconstruction, like IKEA directions written by Franz Kafka, annotated by your therapist’s cat. So, this *is* self-help. Help yourself by reading this. This book is a cosmic dare. This book succeeds in the same way a sinkhole can swallow a Dodge Caravan. Get yourself a copy!

[Benjamin Niespodziany · Rating 5 out of 5]

My very favorite debut poetry collection. It's surreal, absurd, tender, grotesque, laugh out loud funny, fabulist, & strange. A manuscript so strong that it inspired me to launch my own indie press. This is our first release. I can't recommend this collection highly enough.

[Kevin · Rating 5 out of 5]

A book so weird and irreverent and fearlessly boundary-pushing it feels almost aggressive. It is definitely confrontational in a hilarious way. So many great lines and poems that I kept taking photos of the pages as I read. Probably my favorite book of the year so far. Oh my gawd.