The Artist's Daughter: Poems

by Kimiko Hahn

"Kimiko Hahn stands as a welcome voice of experimentation and passion."― Bloomsbury Review Kimiko Hahn's poetry explores the interplay―and tensions―among her various identities: mother, lover, wife, poet, and daughter of both the Midwest and Asia. However astonishing her subjects―from sideshow freaks to sadomasochistic fantasy―they ultimately emerge in this startling collection as moving images of the deepest levels of our shared humanity.

Genres: Poetry

92 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2002

About the author

Kimiko Hahn is the author of seven poetry collections. The Unbearable Heart won the Before Columbus Foundation’s American Book Award. She has received numerous grants, including a National Endowment for the Arts Fellowship and a Lila Wallace-Reader’s Digest Award. She teaches at Queens College/The City University of New York.

Reviews

[hazelyn · Rating 5 out of 5]

weird ass book. i think emma might like.

[scarlettraces · Rating 5 out of 5]

Wow, this was terrifying

[Monica Snyder · Rating 2 out of 5]

Where Can You Taste the Mother’s Fragrance

rice vinegar
Wrigley’s gum-white wrapper
inside a leather handbag
my own perfume and my mother-in-law’s perfume
squash with soy sauce
cloth typewriter ribbon ink on one’s fingertips as you
lift your hand to brush aside hair
Dial soap
(Dad: Mildew and Brylcreem)
moth balls
hot water running in the bath
lipstick—Chanel?
the humidity, stepping off the plane in Maui
cold cream

[maris · Rating 4 out of 5]

a powerful and difficult collection of poetry that reads like pockets of prose. covering a myriad of painful and disturbing themes such as abuse, murder, disfigurement, and other unspeakable horrors. reminiscent of amy gerstler with a twist of the macabre.

after completing this short collection in one sitting i was prompted to both call my mother and hug my son tightly.

[Kate · Rating 5 out of 5]

What a lovely inquiry into depravity. I would not have guessed cannibalism, necrophilia, murder, and being buried alive would make such beautiful poetry.

[nini · Rating 5 out of 5]

this is my first poetry book and i loved it so so so so so much omg

[Cheryl Klein · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is a cabinet of curiosities and tragedies: mutant bodies, murders, giant insects, cannibalism, people buried alive. It's not sensationalistic--or rather, it evokes plenty of sensation, but never cheaply. Hahn always takes ideas and associations one notch deeper than you expect.

In "Consumed," she recounts stories of eaters of human flesh lifted from an 1896 book by some guys named Pyle and Gould. After pondering cannibalism, she (in an act of poetic cannibalism?) wonders, "Who was Pyle or Gould?/ Did he spend his days sweating/ in the unheated clipping morgue of the Medical Library?" I can imagine Hahn doing the same: The lover of strange things is inherently strange herself. And as a lover of strange things, I'm glad Hahn is a kindred and fearless spirit.

[Siyuan · Rating 2 out of 5]

definitely original in her choice of morbid, dark themes, but the actual language and rhythms of her poems didn't do it for me, and some of her autobiographical bits were so jarring they seemed unnecessarily exhibitionist. prefer Angela Carter

[Janice Wilson Stridick · Rating 4 out of 5]

Beautiful, haunting and often challenging poetry. I will return to this collection, as I know there is much I didn't get the first time. A friend had recommended Hahn's collection, UNBEARABLE HEART, which I also have. I think I like this one better, somehow. It's more experimental and raw.

[Kristin · Rating 4 out of 5]

I liked this book much more the first time I read it, a few years ago. Now, it just doesn't hit me the same way.