Christine Kwon is a Korean American poet and fiction writer. Her debut poetry collection, A Ribbon the Most Perfect Blue, won the Cowles Poetry Book Prize (Southeast Missouri State University Press, 2023).

She lives in a yellow shotgun house in New Orleans with her partner and their three cats, Trotsky, Lady (Murasaki), and (Cy) Twombly. She is the literary editor at Tilted House Press.

Her work has appeared or is imminent in The Poetry Project, Hot Pink Mag, Joyland Magazine, The Columbia Review, Copper Nickel, and The Harvard Advocate.

She attended Yale and the Iowa Writers’ Workshop.

Christine Kwon
The Emperor of Rain

For two years father lived in a car
I didn’t call
On Christmas and New Year’s I didn’t call 
When it rained I thought of him
When it was cold I thought and didn’t think 
My mind was a frozen finger
For a long time father was a taxi driver 
Circling JFK LaGuardia and Newark
Old Asian men remind me of my father
I see him between two strands of rain 
Between the rain and the street
Dripping down the window
Father lives in a blue crystal geode
He used to have an interest in fossils
His tie stashed on top of my closet
In Barcelona he bought me a necklace
A cluster of blue flowers
I lost it at a glitter party in college
The next morning I went back and looked 
Only I notice the lime blossoms
That my father’s hair's all white
Walking down the street I avoid
Every outstretched hand

Author Q&A

december: Tell us a bit about this poem: where did it come from? What does it mean to you?

Christine: This poem is autobiographical. Sometimes it’s difficult for me to put ‘real’ things in poems because it suddenly sounds ‘fake’ when I write about it. But I think this poem somehow captures the tone of my father.

december: What’s a standout moment you remember from the process of working on it? A stroke of inspiration, a generative brainstorm, a revision challenge, an a-ha moment, a time you shared it with a reader who loved it? Give us a window into the way this piece came to life.

Christine: Most of my poems are born from a phrase. It’s rare that a poem stems from an idea. I think this poem emerged from the mind/frozen finger phrase.

december: This year, we’re celebrating 10 years of publishing december. Can you tell us how literary magazines like december have been important in your literary career? What do you think the importance of the lit mag is to literary culture at large?

Christine: Lit mags are beautiful objects. I like when they have a point of view and particular taste, rather than being a catch-all. When lit mags have a point of view, readers can come to them the way they go to certain publishers. For instance, I know I like most things that New Directions or Pushkin Press publish. In that way, there are some literary magazines that I go to because I know their taste is the better version of my own.

december: What are you working on now?

Christine: My second book of poems! My first book, A Ribbon the Most Perfect Blue, came out this year. I am also working on my first collection of short stories.

december: What’s something else you love to do or are passionate about outside of writing?

I like antiquing, my cats, very small objects, delicate objects, the rain, snow, and my baby, Louis, who was born in October and very beautiful.

december: Where can people find out more about you?

Instagram: @theschooloflonging

Website: christinekwonwrites.com