Fish and the Dove

Poetry. Asian & Asian American Studies. "THE FISH & THE DOVE considers the history of occupation, the legacy of the Korean War, and the ways in which official and institutional language of war obfuscates lived experience. In it, I bear witness to what girlhood, womanhood, and motherhood might mean in the context of family, nation, and history. The legendary Assyrian warrior goddess Semiramis haunts this book, and by giving her voice, I attempt to foreground women's experience in narratives that so often tokenize, dehumanize, and exclude them. The text is informed by and appropriates institutional language, including reports of the South Korean Truth and Reconciliation Commission on governmental atrocities committed during the Korean War."--Mary-Kim Arnold   Mary-Kim Arnold is a writer, artist, and educator. She currently serves as Dean of the Faculty & Academic Affairs at Vermont College of Fine Arts. She is the author of The Fish & The Dove (Noemi Press) and Litany for the Long Moment (Essay Press). Other writings have appeared in Hyperallergic, Conjunctions, The Denver Quarterly, The Georgia Review, and elsewhere. Mary-Kim has received several fellowships and awards, including the 2020 Howard Foundation Fellowship, the 2018 MacColl Johnson Fellowship, and the 2017 Fellowship in Fiction from the Rhode Island State Council on the Arts. She serves as Senior Editor for Collaborative & Cross-Disciplinary Texts at Tupelo Quarterly. In 2021, she was appointed by the Governor to serve on the Board of the Rhode Island State Council on the Arts. She also serves on the Board of the Providence Athenaeum. Adopted from Korea and raised in New York, Mary-Kim lives in Rhode Island with her husband and children.