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Foreign Bodies is a collection of poems about family, by Kimiko Hahn.

What I liked:

• Although I try to make a point of doing minimal research about an author before my first time reading their work, in Hahn’s case, I wonder if a bit of extra background would have helped. I found her poems quite readable (from my not-a-poet’s perspective) but spent the entire book feeling as if I was missing significant chunks from some larger picture or message or theme. Regardless, the intimate nature of the poems, coupled with the distant-yet-simultaneously-present voice, made for a thought-provoking but not uncomfortably emotional read.
• As indicated above, I don’t believe I grasped enough of the context of Hahn’s poems to recognize much wordplay during the reading of them, but after reading her end notes, I felt a deep connection with Hahn’s thoughts on wordplay, including wordplay between languages, translation, and what it all means specifically for nikkei writers. Hahn’s translation comparisons included what appear to be white translators and I’m curious about her thoughts regarding the power dynamics of white people translating writers of color, particularly Japanese writers, in light of the role white people have historically played in attempting to “convey” Japanese culture to people outside Japan. My personal view on this matter is, of course, STOP IMMEDIATELY, but I’m always interested in what other nikkei writers think.

What I learned:

• I’ve learned many interesting and important ways of thinking from poets, mostly via social media, but given that poetry, as far as I know, is in general read less widely than, say, novels, I’m curious what poet-teachers like Hahn tell their students with regard to the purpose or goal or mentality to cultivate as a published (or aspiring-to-be-published) poet, for those students who might ask such questions. This is not to say by any means that publication is or should be the end goal for poets or for any writers, but rather me wondering how poet-teachers, including Hahn, who seems highly conscious of her instructor role, approach this topic. I’ve also recently become aware of many activist poets of color and I’m wondering what Hahn would say about the intersections of activism and poetry among writers of color.

Questions I had:

• Has Hahn ever published any of her poems in Japanese? Or, perhaps, either written or translated one of her poems in(to) Japanese and then (re)translated that same poem into English? I admit, I’ve considered this a few times with regard to my own work, though it seems a monumental undertaking with a novel. Maybe one day, if I can ever afford to retire, it will be a passion project.

Follow-up:

• I’m going to check if Hahn has published any books of essays. After reading her notes at the end, I’m rather more curious about her longform thoughts on translation, language, and nikkei identity than about her poems.