A review by le_lobey
Engine Empire: Poems by Cathy Park Hong

challenging dark reflective sad slow-paced

3.25

This was a challenging read for me, but interesting. I think that the collection as a whole succeeds more than any of the individual poems. As a whole there is a clear constellation of themes that tie the poems together, though it didn't feel like most of them had a clear position on those themes. Rather they gestured at one, or several, of those overarching ideas while playing with language or telling part of the story. I guess each poem felt more like a part of its section rather than a complete work in itself, and I didn't enjoy that. I think this comments more on my taste as a reader of poetry than on the quality of the collection however.

Of the 3 major sections, I liked Shangdu, my Artful Boomtown! the best. It had the most cohesive individual poems, and a really strong setting. I also really liked how Hong featured assonance and alliteration to create a strong rhythm in these poems. Aubade is a great example.