Poem after writing an email to my birth mother
by Sean Cho A.
[Editor’s Note: This piece is part of the “Topical” series, with each piece solely submitted to and chosen by the Final Reader Pietra Dunmore.]
If I was not American
I would be at war.
In Korea K-pop groups must still serve
their required 2 years of military service.
I am not very tactical and hate loud noises.
I am grateful there are words
to make poems with.
It’s a shame, really,
how we have overused “best”.
I want to write verse about my favorite
Korean restaurant on Lake Michigan Drive
and how it is serves objectively the best boglioli.
No one can argue with blacked out windows
and a sign that reads:
Closed. Thank you for your
years of support.
I am thankful to be here
and also very sad.
Sean Cho A. is the author of “American Home” (Autumn House 2021) winner of the Autumn House Publishing chapbook contest. His work can be future found or ignored in Pleiades, The Penn Review, The Massachusetts Review, Ninth Letter, Nashville Review, among others. He is currently an MFA candidate at the University of California Irvine and the Associate Editor of THRUSH Poetry Journal. Find him @phlat_soda.
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What surprising, fascinating stuff can you tell us about the origin, drafting, and/or final version of “Poem after writing an email to my birth mother”? I’m really interested in truth vs. authenticity in poetry, and to me, (especially overtime) truth becomes valueless in verse, yet authenticity feels vital. (Did Robert Lowell really see those skunks???)
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