Poem #1: "The Monologue of an Onion"

Suji Kwock Kim is a great poet. She effectively uses the metaphor of an onion to express an individual's feelings towards another person. Yes, an onion. And it actually works. The meaning is very deep and reveals much about the author. She used a symbol of the onion, which could be used in a humorous manner, as a serious topic. Go on, read for yourself:

I don't mean to make you cry.    

I mean nothing, but this has not kept you
   

From peeling away my body, layer by layer,

The tears clouding your eyes as the table fills
   

With husks, cut flesh, all the debris of pursuit.      5
   

Poor deluded human: you seek my heart.
 
  

Hunt all you want. Beneath each skin of mine
   

Lies another skin: I am pure onion—pure union
   

Of outside and in, surface and secret core.
 
   

Look at you, chopping and weeping. Idiot.        10
   

Is this the way you go through life, your mind
   

A stopless knife, driven by your fantasy of truth,
 
   

Of lasting union—slashing away skin after skin
   

From things, ruin and tears your only signs
   

Of progress? Enough is enough.                     15
 
   

You must not grieve that the world is glimpsed
   

Through veils. How else can it be seen?
   

How will you rip away the veil of the eye, the veil
 
   

That you are, you who want to grasp the heart
   

Of things, hungry to know where meaning          20
   

Lies. Taste what you hold in your hands: onion-juice,
 
   

Yellow peels, my stinging shreds. You are the one
   

In pieces. Whatever you meant to love, in meaning to
   

You changed yourself: you are not who you are,
 
   

Your soul cut moment to moment by a blade        25
   

Of fresh desire, the ground sown with abandoned skins.
   

And at your inmost circle, what? A core that is

Not one. Poor fool, you are divided at the heart,
   

Lost in its maze of chambers, blood, and love,
   

A heart that will one day beat you to death.

I have offered my personal paraphrasing of this poem in case it went over your head:

I don’t purposely make you cry. 
I have no meaning, but you continue to try to see who I am. 
You dig deeper to search for my heart and this causes you to cry. 
You can search all you desire to, but I am telling you that nothing lies any deeper; 
you will only find what you already know. 
You continue to inspect me and it’s making you out to be stupid. 
You’re naïve to have a fancy of finding out the true me. 
All that has come of it are your tears. 
You haven’t made any progress, so it’s time to quit looking. 
You are blinded by the tears in your eyes and, therefore, you will never see me clearly. 
While peeling my layers, you are the one that is in shreds. 
By trying to love and know me, you have changed yourself. 
While looking for my heart, you’ve changed yours. 
You have become a fool and you are lost. 
Your heartbreak will be the end of you.

Did you think the onion was effective? A persona is kind of like a character. Did this character work? Did you notice how many senses and emotions Kim references in this poem? Go ahead, read it again and count them. It includes every sense: sight, smell, taste, touch, and sound. Those may be easy to find, but the emotions in this poem can be harder to pick out. It's obvious that there is hurt taking place. The tears of the other person show the heartache within them. Did you notice how blunt and damaging the tone of the onion was? It even calls the other person an idiot and a fool.  It says they are deluded (misleading) and blind. As harsh as it may be, it adds emphasis and meaning to this poem. Kim's goal of portraying a certain relationship wouldn't have been accomplished without her use of these strong words. 

What kind of relationship do you think this is? Is it one you are familiar with or have noticed? The onion persona refuses to let someone else in. They won't reveal who they are. The other person wants to love them, but they can't because they don't know the person that is portrayed by the onion.

Could you imagine trying to figure someone out, only to find that there is nothing else to know? Would you continue searching like the person in the poem, or would you give up and feel defeated? 

These thoughts are worth pondering. That's why poetry can be so interesting. There is always deeper meaning...a meaning worth finding.  Good luck and have fun.