Some Are Always Hungry by Jihyun Yun
My rating: 5 of 5 stars
This brief collection includes poems about food, folk knowledge, nostalgia, women’s issues, and expatriation / immigration. The title’s reference to hunger is most directly seen in poems that take the recipe format as a model for form and style. The recipe poems are prominent expressions of the collection’s central theme – which is an immigrant’s nostalgia for home and tradition. The author is ethnically Korean, but moved to America – a place which has historically accepted those of many cultures but which also can be said to dissolve cultures, in a way. America also spends more time than most peering toward the future, rather than toward the past — in contrast to many of the countries from which it receives migrants. The collection is peppered with folk wisdom that represents that past-centric orientation.
I found this collection to be clever and evocative. I’d highly recommend it for poetry readers.
Tiger Riding for Beginners 