Poem Found Here: "[The Whale Already]" by Kimiko Hahn There's a couple of questions I had when I was reading this poem. Why do the end of the lines need to be bolded to indicate the cento? Is the speaker assuming I'm not smart enough to recognize it (I am, but such a blatant call out). Doesn't the title look like a whale? Words within an encapsulated form. Why this Yosa Buson quote where the language conflicts ("taken got away"). Is this a translation thing or is it something else. I also wonder why "a golden shovel" wasn't used in the form. Maybe it'd be too conflicting of images. As usual, I have no answers. Only a curiosity. The tone of the poem though is less curious and more blunt, "What is endangered, the / rest of us ignore." Such a bold statement to start out with. By addressing the audience, the lines of the poem and the references take more of a back seat because the audience is being attacked and has to f...
Formerly the RetailMFA, This is the Poetry Blog of Darrell Dela Cruz