The poems in the Year of the Sheep are immigrant songs. Using the poetic imagination as a space to represent the complexities of assimilation, cultural hybridity, a religious upbringing, and other experiences, this collection narrows in on the link between language, location, and self. The mix of natural imagery and pop culture nods culminate into a nostalgic hum that seems to yearn for home, wherever that might be. The speaker wonders how to carry on and build a life, while making room to remember and hold on to family, ancestry, and an origin story.

In Korean, it is common to use a collective pronoun like “our” and “we,” when referencing something that is exclusively one’s own. This sense of “our” reinforces this notion that an individual is always a part of the collective. The speaker of YOTS is thus pulled in multiple directions—desiring a way to honor the “we” while forging an “I” on their own terms. In the English-speaking world, the immigrant is not often afforded the privilege of being recognized as a messy, knowing, and thriving subject.

The speaker in YOTS resists some major ideologies and institutional authorities that offer only clumsy categorizations without recognizing the nuances of one’s humanity. From all sides, the speaker is bombarded with ways of being—the fear of being “wrong” and losing the herd haunts them. But they cannot help continue to question these pre-determined paths and pervasive narratives that dictate the major actions and events of a “good,” immigrant life. What if the lost sheep is not lost but searching? This collection brings this question to the fore.