American Dream

Jason Koo // 36.1 Winter 2012 // 02.07.12

  after Shakespeare 129

Had, having, and in quest to have, extreme.
What’s the point of being ridiculous?
Over and over and over again, it seems.

Enough’s enough, enough to make you scream.
Well, you don’t. You’re quiet. Meticulous.
Had, having, and in quest to have, extreme.

You browse through dirty thumbnails on a screen
Then click Clear History, recoil in disgust.
Over and over and over again, it seems.

This gives new meaning to the phrase come clean.
A silly sully-cycle—you’re into this?
Had, having, and in quest to have, extreme?

Not a human being but an in-between,
There, not there, there and not there, more or less
Over and over and over again, it seems.

Oh Mister Umpteen, Mixmaster Misqueme,
What’s the point of being ridiculous?
Had, having, and in quest to have, extreme.
Over and over and over again you dream.

Jason Koo is the author of Man on Extremely Small Island (C&R Press, 2009), winner of the De Novo Poetry Prize and the Asian American Writers’ Workshop Members’ Choice Award for the best Asian American book of 2009. His recent work has appeared or is forthcoming in Octopus, The Missouri Review and The Yale Review.

By the Same Author

  • Orpheus on Lexington Avenue
  • For Every Atom Belonging to Me
  • American Dream

The Journal is a magazine of literature published four times yearly and supported by the Department of English, private contributions, advertisements, and sales. The magazine is endorsed by the Ohio State University, and its contents determined solely by the editorial staff. Address all correspondence to The Journal, The Ohio State University, Department of English, 164 W. 17th Avenue, Columbus, OH 43210. E-mail: managingeditor@thejournalmag.org.