A Poetic Experiment

The following is a poem by Koon Woon. We are doing a small experiment in "empathy." 

If you are a poet or familiar with poetry, you may have a stronger reaction or a different reaction than someone who is not a poet or a poetry connoisseur. Please write your own reaction to this poem and email it to Koon Woon at koonwoon@gmail.com. Just a short paragraph would do as to how you reacted.

Then, let a friend who is not a poet read this poem, and ask for his/her reaction. It is preferable that you do not ask an English major or a Literature major but someone who majored in another field. 

Thank you for your participation. It is of course voluntary.

Here is the poem:

The eye of the needle

She said you can see the world through

The eye of the needle,

Writing as she with her index finger

On my spine.

She said the whorl on your

Back indicates

You have great strength,

Like an ox,

And she patiently plucked

Hair from my forehead,

Saying,

This will make you generous.

Grandmother your aged hands were

Soft.

If I only knew the number

Of Chickens

You have plucked

Gently naked,

Undressing them for the next life.

And you rubbed

Your grandchildren’s foreheads

To gentle sleep with those

Palms.

Tender tendrils of garden petals

You rubbed between finger tips

Loved they were and abunded

I forgive the time you hacked

To pieces my dog and scooped it

Steaming onto my plate.

I didn’t have enough meat.

Grandmother

You are not here now

And I am strong

You wrote a whorl on my back.

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You can make a comment here or

Please email your reactions to koonwoon@gmail.com

Koon Woon

2012 18^th Ave. South

Seattle, WA 98144

Revisions: 1981 - 2015