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This collection won the 2022 Forward Best Collection, the poems are numbered not titled, perhaps a signal that the Men aren’t actually what the poems are about?
Kim writes with a clarity and honesty that is powerful – I didn’t tag poems as I would have probably tagged ever page!
Some poke a bit of fun, written with a wry smile, I think poem 11 is one of those “… The man | who thought he knew everything never learnt that he didn’t, …” but others are raw and harrowing, like poem 24 which deals with rape, its words “Imagine waking into silence” become something unbearable.
Poem 42 uses the technique of redacting a word to make that word speak all the more powerfully – repeatedly the poem asks “is it if…” - the missing word is “rape” but the blank space holds your attention, makes you fill in the gap, in a way that the word itself could risk being brushed over.
These poems not only shine a light on male sexual violence, but also helps those that have experienced that being to process, well without speaking for others they have at least helped me process my own experiences.
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