pickA nice collection about all sorts of existential and global crises. You have to not worry about if you accept the worldview to enjoy it, because it‘s ideological.
It‘s cool in terms of the forms used…inspirational really. I could feel Choi pushing herself to come up with new ways of writing.
It also has a great balance between experimental and more accessible. Way to go!
not gibberish, I mean, but language so sacred
it‘s not my place to try to decipher it,
phonemes holy as stones on a string, mysterious
as the names we give to animals, or words
we know only in prayer
pickThe title suggests both a callous world, unheeding of the catastrophes borne by others, and a persistent world, one that survives. The poems hold both of these worlds, and, through them, so does the reader. We walk with Choi through the grief of past endings and the terror of those unfolding now. Yet we also find comfort in the ones who provide aid now, and those who come after us. I think I needed this book.
pickThis was an outstanding collection! Explorations of dystopia in our contemporary world, powerful lines about grief, and even some speculative poems. My favorites were “Upon Learning That Some Korean War Refugees Used Partially Detonated Napalm Canisters as Cooking Fuel,” “It Is What It Is,” “Science Fiction Poetry,” and “How to Let Go of the World.”
#poetry #speculativepoetry
pickEvery day of my life has been something other than my last.
Every day, an extinction misfires, and I put it to work.
Franny Choi‘s speculative poetry is so incisive, imaginative, and moving. Here, she counters the notion that apocalypse is something we anticipate, showing again and again that apocalypse is historical and ongoing, especially for marginalized communities—all while envisioning more hopeful alternate and future post-apocalypses too.
The World Keeps Ending, and the World Goes On | 
