Hardly War by Don Mee Choi

Hardly War, Don Mee Choi's major second collection, defies history, national identity, and militarism. Using artifacts from Choi's father, a professional photographer during the Korean and Vietnam wars, she combines memoir, image, and opera to explore her paternal relationship and heritage. Here poetry and geopolitics are inseparable twin sisters, conjoined to the belly of a warring empire. Like fried potato chips  I believe so,utterly so  The hush-hush provingground was utterly proven as history Hardly=History  I believe so, eerily so hush hush  Now watch thisperformance  Bull's-eye  An uncannyhuman understanding on target Absolute=History  loaded withterrifying meaning  The Air Forcedoesn't say, hence Ugly=Narration  Don Mee Choi is the author of The Morning News Is Exciting (Action Books, 2010), and translator of contemporary Korean women poets. She has received a Whiting Writers Award and the 2012 Lucien Stryk Translation Prize. Her translation of Kim Hyesoon's Sorrowtoothpaste Mir