Man on Extremely Small Island

by Jason Koo

“Jason Koo’s Man on Extremely Small Island is an absurdly funny meditation on loneliness, desire and the silences between us. By turns mythic and pop, Koo’s poems explore the anger, betrayal and compromises of young love, as well as the complexities of communication within families. Man on Extremely Small Islandis a self-effacing look at anguish, an expansive and inclusive debut.” -Denise Duhamel “Despite the voluminosity of these poems, they celebrate and capture the spirit of inner malaise that permeates modernity, all over our towns, cities and small islands. There, in the language, and in the languorous, frustrating rhythms is a portrait of our being that strikes me as original and ritualistic. This is exciting writing that will make its mark.” -Major Jackson “The poems in this book are haunted by love. Koo writes plaintively, honestly, persuasively about his experiences and the dimensions of longing. His work is also socially astute, incorporating references to both “high” and “low” culture to convey the weave of information and experience that shapes how we connect to the world. In that respect, the poems expand beyond the personal into a larger examination of desire. As Koo writes, “This is for the romantics, / the ones who install themselves in diners at night, / hogging the booths with their books, / hunched over the moonlight / of pages.” I find his vision expansive and humane.” -Bob Hicok

Genres: Poetry

110 pages, Kindle Edition

Published October 9, 2020

About the author

Named one of the "100 Most Influential People in Brooklyn Culture" by Brooklyn Magazine, Jason Koo was born in New York City and grew up in Cleveland, Ohio. He is the author of three full-length collections of poetry: More Than Mere Light (Prelude Books, 2018), America's Favorite Poem (Brooklyn Arts Press, 2020; C&R Press, 2014) and Man on Extremely Small Island (Brooklyn Arts Press, 2020; C&R Press, 2009), winner of the De Novo Poetry Prize and the Asian American Writers' Workshop Members' Choice Award for the best Asian American book of 2009. He is also the author of the chapbook Sunset Park (Frontier Slumber, 2017) and coeditor of the Brooklyn Poets Anthology (Brooklyn Arts Press & Brooklyn Poets, 2017). He has published his poetry and prose in the American Scholar, Missouri Review, Village Voice and Yale Review, among other places, and won fellowships for his work from the National Endowment for the Arts, Vermont Studio Center and New York State Writers Institute. He earned his BA in English from Yale, his MFA in creative writing from the University of Houston and his PhD in English and creative writing from the University of Missouri–Columbia. An associate teaching professor of English at Quinnipiac University, Koo has also taught writing at NYU and Lehman College–CUNY, where he served as the director of the graduate program in English, and as a senior writer-in-residence for Writers in the Schools. He is the founder and executive director of Brooklyn Poets and creator of the Bridge. He lives in Beacon, NY.