thepoets

Suji Kwock Kim is a poet who writes clean lines that radiate power…as if they are fiber optic communications to our minds. She won the 2002 Walt Whitman Award from the Academy of American Poets. This was for her first book of poetry Notes from the Divided Country of which the poem Montage with Neon, Bok Choi, Gasoline, Lovers & Strangers is a part of.

Her words are what the definition of clarity should be in a dictionary. Not heart-on-your sleeve clarity, but more an understated clarity that is elegant. After reading Suji Kwock Kim I feel great about poetry - I see the hope and possibilities in poetry that will never end.

Here are a few sparkling gems from the poem which is a sensory exploration during a walk in Seoul, South Korea.

There is…

I can’t help feeling giddy.
I’m drunk on neon, drunk on air,
drunk on seeing what was made

and…

dispatchers shouting the names of stations,
lovers so tender with each other
I hold my breath,

and at the end, a line that lingers long after you read it:

but may you never see what we saw,
may you never do what we’ve done,
may you never remember & may you never forget.

Suji Kwock Kim has her B.A. from Yale University and a Master of Fine Arts from the Iowa Writers’ Workshop. She teaches and continues to explore the heart of poetry through her magnificent writing.

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