Episode 7: Cathy Park Hong

Rachel Zucker speaks with Cathy Park Hong, author of three books of poetry, professor at Sarah Lawrence, and recipient of the NEA, NYFA and Fulbright fellowships. They discuss how motherhood can change one’s poetic aesthetic, the limitations of poetry and prose, the intersections of poetry and politics, and the new phenomenon of “viral poems.” Cathy Park Hong shares her thoughts on why she uses persona and shifting pronouns in her poetry and how writing nonfiction allows her to be more personal. Their conversation explores both poets’ optimism about and frustration with poetry.

Rachel Zucker speaks with Cathy Park Hong, author of three books of poetry, professor at Sarah Lawrence, and recipient of the NEA, NYFA and Fulbright fellowships. They discuss how motherhood can change one’s poetic aesthetic, the limitations of poetry and prose, the intersections of poetry and politics, and the new phenomenon of “viral poems.” Cathy Park Hong shares her thoughts on why she uses persona and shifting pronouns in her poetry, and how writing nonfiction allows her to be more personal. Their conversation explores both poets’ optimism about and frustration with poetry.

EPISODE TRANSCRIPT

EXTRA RESOURCES FOR EPISODE 7Cathy Park Hong’s books:

Translating Mo’Um (Hanging Loose Press, 2002)

Dance Dance Revolution (W.W. Norton, 2008)

Engine Empire (W.W. Norton, 2013)

She also appeared in the Gurlesque anthology.

Here’s a video of her reading her poem “Get Away From it All”

Other writing by Cathy Park Hong

“Delusions of Whiteness in the Avant-Garde”: an essay published in Lana Turner

“There’s a New Movement in American Poetry and It’s Not Kenneth Goldsmith”: an essay published in The New Republic

“Memories and Thoughts on Adrienne Rich”: an essay in Harriet

Forecasts, a poem/video project produced for Triple Canopy, in collaboration with Adam Shecter

The Rub, a project produced for the New Museum in collaboration with Mores McWreath

Books and essays mentioned in this episode

“The Gold Star Awards”: a statement by The Mongrel Coalition Against Gringpo in Harriet

“We Need Diverse Diverse Books”: an essay by Matthew Salesses in LitHub

“The Rejection of Closure”: a talk by Lyn Hejinian, transcribed and published by the Poetry Foundation

The Dream of a Common Language by Adrienne Rich (W.W. Norton, 2013)

Look by Solmaz Sharif (Graywolf, 2016)

Blackacre by Monica Youn (Graywolf, 2016)

The Program Era by Mark McGurl (Harvard University Press, 2009)

In the Light of What We Know by Zia Haider Rahman (Picador, 2015)

Related works by other writers

The Racial Imaginary: Writers on Race in the Life of the Mind, an anthology edited by Claudia Rankine (Fence, 2016)

The Collected Poems of Adrienne Rich (W.W. Norton, 2016)

“White Debt,” an essay by Eula Biss, published in the New York Times Magazine

“In the Same Breath: The Racial Politics of the Best American Poetry 2014” by Isaac Ginsberg Miller, published in the American Poetry Review