“Soundproof Counseling Room for Middle Schoolers (2009)” and Other Poems

By Jackson Minjoon Wright

Ahrong Kim - Disturbia (2022), Porcelain, Glaze, Mother-Of-Pearl
Photo credit: John Carlano
Image description: A porcelain bust of a pouting, pale-skinned woman on an ornamental four-legged stand with mother-of-pearl inlay. Her hair is depicted in two low buns with red and maroon flowers painted over them. Several multi-colored, pastel, porcelain hands with small floral doodles rest on the woman’s head while pointing at her face. 

Soundproof Counseling Room for Middle Schoolers (2009)

reclaim your name
she said
reclaim chin or liu
or whatever it is
and visit vietnam or china
and buy a buddha
she said
even though
my last name
is Scottish so

it’s your own fault
for taking martial arts
as a child and playing violin
from such a young age
and also because 
you were allergic
to dairy and penicillin
and diamonds. and i 

agreed heartily then 
filled out evaluations
over takeout.

Ahrong Kim - This and That (2022), Porcelain, Stoneware, Glaze, Mother-Of-Pearl. Luster, Acrylic
Photo credit: John Carlano
Image description: A porcelain caricature of an East Asian woman with multi-colored patchwork hair, wearing a dark-blue dress coated with mother-of-pearl and a golden headpiece. She sits on a multi-colored, geometric-patterned stand with decorative golden shapes along the edges. She is pinching one of her cheeks and is staring at her reflection in a blue-and-white porcelain mirror.

ripe 

picked 
still wet from morning dew 
stem clutching dirt for 
last bits of knowledge
gained from the 

farmer’s boot. blinded 
for days, binded in a roving 
greenhouse - force fed, not 
nourished. at the 

market, no room to 
twitch but time to 
rage. on view for you
to buy, cut, burn
just for prestige
mac n’ cheese. 

rolled off and down the aisle
forgotten amidst the rancid 
sound. no notice of 
the flesh beneath 
your feet. boy

with hungry 
pockets. it feels nice 
to be embraced 
by dirty hands, 
again.

smuggled away, 
relieved of fluorescence, 
and public presence. welcomed 
for hardiness and color, but
when this sweetness gives way
to bitterness and the meat

wrinkles into itself, the 
seed can travel further still; 
new clay pot. 

from beneath the soil

blue notes of the pianet
in the other room. fallen 
hair on the topsoil brushed
away at the onset
of germination. 
breaking through.
sunlight, for once. 

bask.

Ahrong Kim - Disrespect (2021), Porcelain, Glaze, Luster
Photo credit: John Carlano
Image description: A porcelain bust of a woman with pale skin and green eyes, sitting inside a black-and-white, vertical-striped cup with decorative black legs, gold-embellished handles, and golden bees evenly spaced around the cup. She looks upwards in an annoyed manner with her eyebrows furrowed. She has short, poofy hair with colorful peonies painted over it. A pair of golden hands are grasping at her hair at the top of her head. 

Raining on Manmulsang Rocks (2014)

Inspired by artwork from Shin Jangsik

A waste of color
to describe wind
in anything but

black and white. 
I fell 
off of a pine tree,

crashed into Christmas
and baseball diamonds.
I thank 

Delta SkyMiles
for free peanuts
and a pacifier

and my only
hanbok. 
Behind the mountain 

I saw all you painters
drop your palette.
did I lie to the stork

when I told him
where to pick me up?
You all say

No. 

Ahrong Kim - Holidays (2021), Porcelain, Glaze, Luster, Wood
Photo credit: John Carlano
Image description: A porcelain sculpture of a round-faced, young girl with a straight fringe, wearing a hooded dress patterned with green and pink flowers and orange leaves. Below her chin is a golden, embellished bow. Also wearing golden, embellished shoes, she is balancing on a black-and-white, checkered trolley with big, dark-red wheels. In her left hand she holds a bouquet of blue roses and in the right hand she holds the handle of the trolley, while a red-stained, toy bunny sits on her head. 

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Jackson Minjoon Wright is an aspiring poet and musician living in the Northern California Bay Area. A Korean American adoptee raised in Kansas City, he writes about the particularities of adoption and secluded life in the Midwest. Heartily inspired by poets such as Aimee Nezhukumatathil, he hopes to take a tender look at the harmful events that come to pass and shine a celebratory light on the wonderful moments that can often feel fleeting and revelatory. In his downtime, he works at a publishing house and writes music. 

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Ahrong Kim is a New Jersey based artist born in South Korea. She received a BFA in Ceramics from Kon Kuk University in South Korea in 2008 and an MFA from the Rhode Island School of Design in 2013. Her works have been exhibited at Kristen Lorello, New York, NY, LaiSun Keane, Boston, MA, George Billis Gallery, New York, NY, Gallery IMA, Seattle, WA and MANA Contemporary, Jersey City, NJ, among other venues.

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