My latest book, Mitochondrial Night (2019), is dedicated to my mother, who was a child war refugee from what is now North Korea. The book contains several poems about my (then) toddler daughter, as she began to form language(s) for the world and its current forms of upheaval. I attended kindergarten in Seoul, South Korea, grew up in the Midwest, and attended university on both coasts and abroad. For over two decades I’ve worked in social services and the literary arts with at-risk youth, immigrants, refugees, veterans, the houseless and incarcerated, rural and older adults, and also teach in Fine Arts at Metropolitan State University in Minneapolis/St. Paul, MN. www.edboklee.com
Why poetry? Why now?
It often occurs to me that, at the deepest sub-stratum of all poetry, aches the interconnectedness of everyone and everything. An inner ache can be a lonely thing. But, when shared communally, something wildly rich, beautiful, and miraculous can happen.