Army of Monk: An essay in the magazine, Killing the Buddha

​Statue of monk, Golgulsa Temple

​Statue of monk, Golgulsa Temple

A new essay on monks, meditation and martial arts in South Korea, now up on Killing the Buddha's website. "Sometimes it’s the case that monks form an army and fight," the piece begins. "This has happened periodically on the Korean peninsula, over the course of the last six centuries, as Buddhist monks emerged as soldiers, fighting invaders from nearby kingdoms or foreign aggressors from China and Japan." Read on here.
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The Next Big Thing

Thanks to the fabulous writers and poets, Lois Smith, Traci Brimhall and Tamiko Beyer for passing me the baton: they've answered a series of questions about their forthcoming work on their blogs, and they've called on me to do the same. Here it goes:

What is your working title of your book? The Palace of Contemplating Departure.

​Pavilion of Contemplating Departure in Seoul's Changdeokgung Palace

​Pavilion of Contemplating Departure in Seoul's Changdeokgung Palace

Where did the idea come from for the book? The book’s a collection of 42 poems; each one has a different origin story. But, the idea for the title for the book originated in the Asian Art Museum in San Francisco while I was wandering through an exhibition of photographs of the palaces in Seoul. I came across a picture of the Pavilion of Contemplating Departure in the Changdeokgung Palace and was immediately captivated by such a wistful name—so captivated that I journeyed to South Korea last month, for the first time, and I took my own photo of the book’s namesake.

What genre does your book fall under? Poetry.

Which actors would you choose to play your characters in a movie rendition? I would want Bill Murray to play all of the parts, including the Palace. 

What is the one-sentence synopsis of your book? “A lyrical debut poetry collection of intimacy and quiet power, weaving stories of sudden departures, forced removals, and the chosen journeys in between.” 

Will your book be self-published or represented by an agency? The book will be published by Red Hen Press, in March.

How long did it take you to write the first draft of your manuscript? It took ten years and it also took two years. I’ve been working on a book of poetry for about a decade—compiling, revising, and discarding poems along the way. The current version came into fruition about two years before it was submitted for publication.

Who or what inspired you to write this book? Lots of things: wolves, knives, New York City, my sister, my ex-loves, moonlight, starlight, California, gardens, valleys, deserts, history, prayer, waiting, watching, running away, returning home, the Pacific Coast, the longest war, guns, and wonder.

What else about your book might pique the reader's interest? There’s a poem in the book written from the point of view of train tracks. And another one written from the point of view of a sunrise. Those are cool.

Up next! Fellow poets Cathy Linh Che and Eugenia Leigh will be answering these questions on their blogs in the coming week. Stay tuned!