| “when I want to eat I eat and eat and eat and eat and eat and eat and eat” -Sophia Tempest Parsons Sophia Tempest Parsons does what poets are supposed to do. Her writing is vulnerable and fearless. It’s brutal. Her sparse poems leave readers with no room to hide. She wants you to know what her world is like, and she refuses to hold your hand and apologize while she tells you how it is. She makes you look into dark places and acknowledge their existence. I found myself reflected in these places, which is one of the most healing aspects poetry can have for me. When I see someone bravely embracing their own darkness, it is easier for me to embrace my own without shame. I devoured her chapbook A Lamb Hangs by Its Own Foot (Ghost City Press) in one sitting. I give it as a gift to friends who love poetry. I encourage you to give yourself the gift of reading Parsons' work and following the beginning of her writing career, which I am confident will be a productive one. ~Callie S. Blackstone |  |
|
0 Comments
Eugenia Leigh is the Korean American author of the poetry collection Blood,
Sparrows and Sparrows (Four Way Books, 2014), winner of the Debut-litzer Prize in Poetry and finalist for Yale’s Series of Younger Poets. I first read Eugenia’s book in 2017, the year that I lost both my sister and her 11-year-old son (my nephew) to suicide. In the midst of acute grief and PTSD, her poetry was one of the few things I could hear inside what felt like a rubber bubble, keeping me safely apart from the world. As a biracial, Korean American woman, I longed for poems that could reach me, and I found them. In spite of the fact that South Korea has one of the highest suicide rates in the world, the Korean American community as a whole has long insisted on silence when it comes to suicide, abuse, and violence. I have turned to Eugenia’s poetry in my own writing process, when I’ve needed courage and inspiration. Her poetry sings, wails, and whispers. Eugenia’s latest poem to be published, “Gold,” can be found in the Summer, 2020, issue of Pleaides, as part of a folio of Korean American poets, edited by E.J. Koh. “Gold” brings us full circle, back to “Deciding Not to Drown Today” by exploring the reasons why we should step back from those rocks, and stay. ~Joan Kwon Glass
 Gabriela Yadegari |
RSS Feed
