Floating, Brilliant, Gone

By Franny Choi

In her electrifying debut, Franny Choi leads readers through the complex landscapes of absence, memory, and identity. Beginning in loss and ending in reflective elation, Floating, Brilliant, Gone explores life as a brief impossibility, “infinite / until it isn’t.†Punctuated with haunting illustrations by Jess X. Chen, Choi’s poems read like lucid dreams that jolt awake at the most unexpected moments.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Write Bloody Publishing
• Release date: Oct 1, 2018
• ISBN: 9781938912948

Franny Choi

Franny Choi is the author of three poetry collections, The World Keeps Ending, and the World Goes On (Ecco, 2023), Soft Science (Alice James Books, 2019), and Floating, Brilliant, Gone (Write Bloody Publishing, 2014). They are Faculty in Literature at Bennington College and founded Brew & Forge, a project that aims to build connections between writers, artists, and organizers.

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Floating, Brilliant, Gone

© Franny Choi 2014; interior illustrations and cover art © Jess X. Chen 2014

All rights reserved

No part of this book may be used or performed without written consent from the author, except for critical articles or reviews.

Choi, Franny

First edition

ISBN: 978-1938912436

Cover art by Jess X. Chen

Proofread by Kelly Frances Porter

Edited by Derrick Brown, Laura Brown-Lavoie, Aaron Samuels

Interior illustrations by Jess X. Chen

Interior layout by Ashley Siebels

Type set in Bergamo from www.theleagueofmoveabletype.com

Printed in Tennessee, USA

Write Bloody Publishing

Austin, TX

Support Independent Presses

writebloody.com

To contact the author, send an email to [e-mail]

MADE IN THE USA

FLOATING, BRILLIANT, GONE

For Arun, the Nest, & Willie.

FLOATING, BRILLIANT, GONE

NOTES ON THE EXISTENCE OF GHOSTS

THE WELL

HALLOWEEN, 2009

FIRST BLOOD AFTER

SPEAKING PRACTICE

ANNIE MASON’S C OLLIE

MUD

SABOTAGE

KIMCHI

NATIVE LANGUAGE

REAL TALK

HOW TO WIN AN ARGUMENT

THE HINDSIGHT OCTOPUS

WARNING

ORIENTALISM (PART 1)

THE MIRROR

BIRD WATCHING

CHINKY

TO THE MAN WHO SHOUTED I LIKE PORK FRIED RICE AT ME ON THE STREET

SECOND MOUTH

PUSSY MONSTER

JUST LIKE A WOMAN OR, GIRLS ARE LIKE PEOPLE EXCEPT THEY DON’T HAVE DICKS

ODE TO MY ARMPIT HAIRS

PACKING INSTRUCTIONS

HOW TO GET HOME SAFELY

BAIT

TOO MANY TRUTHS

GENTRIFIER

TOO MANY TRUTHS

THE MANTIS SHRIMP SPEAKS

TORNADO

ORIENTALISM (PART II)

MY LOVERS

THE THREAT OF PEACE

DRIVE TO QUINEBAUG VALLEY

WHY WE BIKED FORTY MILES TO NARRAGANSETT

METAMORPHOSIS

REASONS IT’S IMPORTANT TO REST

NEVER HERE

DÉJÀ VU

HOW TO DISAPPEAR

HEAVEN IS A FAIRY TALE (& VICE VERSA)

UNWORDS

NOTES

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

THANK YOU

ABOUT THE AUTHOR/ILLUSTRATOR

"There is light suddenly everywhere, the light of your life speaking to you. What it tells you is almost the same as what happened.

Never mind that almost isn’t good enough; it’s all you have."

– from Edinburgh, by Alexander Chee

NOTES ON THE EXISTENCE OF GHOSTS

Leaves stained onto the sidewalk from yesterday’s storm create graygreen watermarks on the pavement, like the negatives of pressed flowers, or the ghost of a letterpress still whispering up from the page. A sidewalk is a haunted thing.

–

I understand the gravity of a train from the empty space and afterbirth air I encounter when I run down to the platform twenty seconds too late. It is the same with all things of such weight