Extinction Theory: Poems

by Kien Lam, Kyle Dargan (Compiler)

Extinction Theory is a collection of pseudoscience poems that try to provide rationales for some of life’s most salient mysteries. Where is God? What does it mean to belong? Who killed the dinosaurs? Kien Lam creates new worlds with new rules to better answer these perennial questions. His poetry is that of discovery, of looking at the world as if for the first time. Lam exposes the transitory and transcendent nature of things and how we find meaning.

At the heart of this collection is also a cataloging of the smaller “extinctions” in life. Every passing moment is the death of something, and try as we might to recreate the feeling, it can never be the same. Maybe it’s a relationship. Maybe it’s a donut. It changes its shape as we juxtapose it against something new. Extinction Theory is as much about language as it is about the absence of language. Of English, of Vietnamese, and then of neither.

Genres: Poetry

88 pages, Paperback

Published October 15, 2022

Reviews

[Varnika Thukral · Rating 3 out of 5]

"but a human tongue is something else
it is not a monster it can only bite if you teach it"

OKAY!

This was a good book, I really enjoyed it in some points and didn't in others, but a remarkable amount of effort, really. Before the review, I wish to extend my gratitude to the author and the publisher for providing me with the copy of this unique book.

Now, let's begin.
What caught my attention was the titled, I am a geology undergrad and evolution is something we overthink about as a biology based major. This one was an interesting take on to evolution of a migrant and into a society which is some what distorted and has no meaning.
The book is filled with a lot to say and let each poem speak for itself is the point how to read it. Given that poems were initially published separately, I totally understand that.

The book talks about various level of extinction, mind you, a theoretical one. It talks about what it is to lose one's command on their mother tongue and an identity which was unique to them, it also comments on the theory of existence of god, and I myself, found it valid enough. We human beings have a tendency of thinking ourselves special, so as to imagine an entity above just for us.
The book also provides commentary on the personal experiences of a migrant in the world of America and how the person is stuck between two big hemispheres and belong not solely to one.

This is why the book is a great read and not a monotonous one.

The down point was the sync between poem to poem was some what not there, nothing is much connected but in some series of poem and the analogy of whale is quite very prevalent throughout the text. Else than that, a good book for poetry.

The author surely is talented and made their way to a sigh or a smile on my lips while reading.

My specific favourite pieces were-
"Or James"
"Guerrilla Theory"
"Perpetual Motion"
"String Theory"
"Almost"
"Apocalypse with Crumbs"
"The Naming's"

[Stephanie Tom · Rating 4 out of 5]

"I have been called / so many names. I have so many / identities I never meant to adopt. / In the dark, the owls hoot at each other / and I shout back: me, me, me." –from THE NAMINGS

such a treasure trove of poems that always seek to abstract boundaries and what is known in order to ask why and how (family, faith, love, and more) things have come to shape our origin stories, and if we're able to write new origins at the cross of everything in-between. loved this bright little collection, and will be reading more Kien Lam soon.

[C. Varn · Rating 4 out of 5]

Kein Lam has a rare gift--the ability to be poignant and hilarious at the same time while maintaining elaborate conceits. Lam also has the ability to use include great details and everyday language with what is slyly and non-ostentatious verse. The pseudo-theories, songs, and other analogous forms are often far more sophisticated than one would expect. I look forward to see when Kien Lam goes.

[Patricia N. McLaughlin · Rating 3 out of 5]

This collection is an anagram for translation, which is another word for substituting one word for another, like the transubstantiation of thoughts into words onto paper. I admire short poems that get what they want and rarely go hungry, though some are less filling than others. “The Namings” is a banquet of succulent morsels.

Favorite Poems:
“Lunar Mansions”
“Smoking Gun Theory”
“Anagrams”
“Apogee”
“Autopsy”
“String Theory”
“The Namings”

[JoJo · Rating 5 out of 5]

I so deeply enjoyed this book, which has much less to do with the extinction of dinosaurs than I thought, but impressed on me more so the extinction of parts of the soul. These poems brought me a different perspective on our origins and how we relate to them, and how that evolves as we grow older and experience more. Also it made me think of how much I love my mother. Bought a physical copy halfway through my library rental.

[Madeline Rodenberg · Rating 5 out of 5]

There were some marvelous poems in here! Lam has a talent for environmentalist poems that feel like a dagger twisting in your heart, and he tells his own story with a kind of urgent violence paralleling the world around him.
While some of the poems felt a bit redundant/more like filler, I am still giving it five stars because when he gets it right he REALLY gets it right.

[Ben G · Rating 4 out of 5]

Tanguy-esque shadows on a desert dotted with oases of language and human connection. An enjoyable and poignant journey through migration and family stories guided by the blithe gravitational pull of nature.

[Shawna Kay · Rating 5 out of 5]

A gorgeous, gut-wrenching collection, and I loved every poem, even those that wounded and instructed and cornered me.

[Tasha · Rating 5 out of 5]

Loved it!

[Laura Bell · Rating 5 out of 5]

The poem 'Autopsy' has a chokehold on me.

[Jenny · Rating 3 out of 5]

Some great poems in here, others I couldn't connect to given that I don't have much of a religious background.