Translating Moum by Cathy Park Hong

Translating Moum Reviews

• 
  Dylan Zucati

  Like all poetry, you should read this twice, at least once out loud. Not only do you get the usual reiteration of the literal words, but a second read reveals more resonance in the imagery and themes when taken with the context of the completed book. The final page has a note on the Hottentot Venus, a historical figure who was tragically butchered by white scientists and carnival men, as well as a note on the pronunciation of the titular Mo’um being pronounced like “Mom” in standard Romanized spelling. Both of these notes might have been more useful at the beginning if you were hearing them read aloud at a live event, but the reveal at the end for someone who can go back and see everything through this new lens, felt so much more important when it was revealed after all the poems had been parsed through. Of course I caught the themes of motherhood, or more accurately childhood in the presence of a Mother. The poems about the Hottentot Venus built with a rising action that propelled the book. These serve as just two examples of a larger technique at play in Cathy Park Hong’s work. The recurrence of the color blue, the concept of wind, first loves, and the Korean language, all come and go as the poems move forward, but it is on the second read that you feel the importance of their words the first time. Poetry is a challenge for me to write about, it feels like a larger equation that I can understand but not solve. Translating Mo’um was that unsolvable puzzle, untangling itself as I was tangled deeper within it the more I read. An excellent start to a poet I have more to read of!
• 
  Jerome Berglund

  The instances of brilliance make this well worth the effort, but not nearly as coherent as her later work Engine Empire. The frequent mystification can be an asset at times, but also risks becoming confounding in a few pieces. Still, chock full of fascinating insights and compelling explorations.