Song of a Reformed Headhunter

Turning 48, or Post Your Birthday Wish, If You Wish, Below this Post  I’ll write one true thing a day in the week running up to my birthday. John Ashbery is boring and I’d rather eat cardboard than read his poetry. I’m a poor judge of character, which is my saving grace in making friends. Angrier. Sadder. Heavier. I look at the young and am disconsolate. There are no moral phenomena, but I have to act as if good and evil exist. Last week I wrote a respectable poem about sex with a party of cyborgs.  John Ashbery is boring but “Self-Portrait in a Convex Mirror” is brilliant. Love, I have been under increasing pressure to make a false allegation.  Photo by Guy E. Humphrey. I name it "Wallflowers."

Two last leaves we were awake and then we drifted off

Thanks, everyone, for celebrating my new book "Steep Tea" with me last night at Book Culture. The trains were acting up, the night was cold, but you came, some traveling for more than an hour, at least one person whom I know of walking 24 UWS blocks because of Sabbath. Your presence made the event special. Thank you, Cody and the team at Book Culture, for hosting the launch. A big thank-you to Simpson from Chomp Chomp for sponsoring the delicious reception. Thank you, Doug and Chris, for bringing the food to the reading. Thank you, Raj, for the Tiger Beer sponsorship. And thank you, Meiko, for helping with the reception. It was wonderful to hear Cindy Arrieu-King again. Thank you, Cindy, for coming in from Philly to read with me. Your poems are beautiful and brave. They confront the horrors of our contemporary world, not in some far-off war-torn country, but right here among our daily struggles. Softness, you remind us, is a form of kindness. Your soft touch is born of grea...

Wowee! My first-ever advance for a book of poetry! Thank you, Carcanet Press! Photo and tea by Guy.

Guy and I put together this folio of photos and haiku in December. The photographs were taken during our visit to Japan last August. The haiku were inspired by the trip too. The folio will be available at the Rainbow Book Fair in NYC in April, and at the Brooklyn Book Fest in September. Kin Poetry Journal published six of my haiku . Thanks, Eric Norris, for inviting me to submit.

Thanks, everyone, for coming out to the book launch on Wednesday. It was lovely to see so many familiar faces, and quite a few new ones too. Thank you, William Phuan and Aliah Ali from The Arts House, for hosting the event in such a professional and helpful manner. Thank you, my publishers Matthew Chozick, Keisuke Tsubono and Midori Ohmuro, for flying all the way from Tokyo to lend a touch of glamor to the event. Thank you, Keisuke, for reading so beautifully in Japanese. Thank you, Chong Li-Chuan, for your musical piece, which touches the surface and sounds the depths, an aim shared by my little book. Thank you, my parents Robert Koh and Susan Cheong, for coming to the event, and for getting the Bengawan Solo kueh-kueh (they were much heavier than we expected). Thank you, my love Guy Humphrey, for your support and encouragement. You always step in when help is needed. I read this extract last night for us. Happy birthday, dear. If the tree were blooming, a close examination would s...