The Temperature of This Water

By Ishle Yi Park and Ishle Park

Book Overview

Ishle Park's debut collection of poetry heralds the arrival of an exciting, vital new voice in poetry. In The Temperature of This Water , Park samples the climates of Rikers Island and Cheju Island,... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 1885030398
• ISBN13: 9781885030399
• Release Date: August 2003
• Publisher: Kaya/Muae
• Length: 122 Pages
• Weight: 0.42 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.4" x 5.6" x 7.3"
• Grade Range: Postsecondary and higher

Customer Reviews

Such a splendidly vitriolic lyric brew...

mixing and clashing Korean and Korean American with Latinate forces to delineate, emote, and detonate the makings of a localized and globalized New York City on the edge of chaos and redemption. "The Temperature of This Water" registers the temperature of a city inside and outside America, and a poetry brave and caustic enough to cut into the mongrel ethos as worked out on the body and forms of this newness. Fine first book, Kaya Press keeping it urban-real beyond the multicultural frames of expectation and the fireside poetry of formal piety and pastoral bliss.

Amazing Work

I have not had the opportunity to see Ms. Park perform so I can only review the work in her book. I was actually first drawn to her writing when I saw her poem "Zola Kai Mabel Hisae Chiati Cindy Feliz" in a small literary journal. That poem was so lyrical and moving that I sought out more of her writing. I was not disappointed. The Temperature of This Water is simply excellent. The poems and short stories focus on love, heartbreak, & growing up Korean American in NYC-- they are written with raw honesty and sincere emotion. I also really appreciate that anyone can relate to the themes in this book. I find a lot of contemporary poetry to be so obtuse or pretentious that half the time you don't even know what it's about. Yet the accessibility of her writing doesn't diminish its intensity. I look forward to her next book.

I love this book

After reading this book I felt as if I could relate to Ishle. My teacher lent me this book to read and It inspired me so much that I wrote an essay on how Ishle Yi Park's writing influenced me. I also went to one of her book readings in Berkeley. That is one day I will never forget. As soon as Ishle began to read her poem Uma, I began to cry. She read with so much emotion. I will never forget this book. I bought a copy for myself and it is very special to me. I love this book.

An Important and Beautiful Voice

Too often in the spoken word community these days, performance is given much more weight than content. It's not uncommon for mediocre writers to go far because they know how to entertain. What's striking about Ishle Park's work is that she's both a writer and a performer. She does both equally well which is why she's received so much deserved acclaim. As a professor of Asian Pacific Islander literature, I've taught Park's work in both undergraduate and graduate seminars. Park writes about her subject matter with truth and sincerity in words so lyrical it's not uncommon to respond to her pieces simply for their sound. But there's so much more than that. She doesn't self-consciously display the requisite ethnic identity struggles, and what my students note in particular is the way she simply tells her stories--the issues, though present, unfold naturally as a part of her poetry. What she writes feels real and is real, which is why I suspect she is the Poet Laureate of Queens. If you get the chance to see her perform, please go. She delivers her work in a way that makes you feel you really are talking with her aunt, or that you really are on the receiving end of a love poem. I've seen her leave an entire audience completely spellbound. The beauty of her personality is apparent when she performs because she's not "performing." She's telling you everything she feels. Reading her work, listening to it, seeing it live will all be more than worth your time.

Lyrical depth

Many "spoken word performers" put the performance before their words, think poetry equates to rhythmic screaming, and personally repulse me with their egoes. Ishle Yi Park is NOT of this ilk: Ishle's poetry, exquisitely and carefully crafted, reflects truth and beauty; the confusing complexity (call it contemporary negative capability) of family dynamics and racial relations for our generation. This book has so profoundly touched me I have given away several copies to my students, including one of my 11th graders who struggled because she never identified with herself in literature, much less understood poetry, until she read Ishle. I sent Ishle a copy of the essay this student wrote about "The Temperature of This Water;" not only did Ishle write back a beautiful and tearful letter of appreciation, she took time to meet with the girl when she was in San Francisco. Hence, my respect goes to Ms. Park for the lyrical sincerity she practices in her poetry and life.