Where can we read some of your recent work?

My poems “Practice for Living” and “Halmoni” appear in Sweet Tree Review’s Summer 2020’s publication, edited by Jesse Ewing-Frable (Editor-In-Chief), Hannah Newman (Editor-In-Chief), Elizabeth Vignali (Editor, Poetry), and Elspeth Jensen (Editor, Poetry). It was also meaningful for me for my poems “An Adopted Korean Girl’s Good Daddy” and “An Adopted Korean Girl’s New Year’s Wish for her Birth Mother” to be selected by editors Rachel Marie Patterson and Dara-Lyn Shrager for publication in Issue 18 of Radar Poetry. These editors, along with the other editors and readers who generously support diverse, female poets’ work, affirmed for me that my voice matters, which means a lot to me.

Here are links:

https://www.radarpoetry.com/good-daddy

https://www.radarpoetry.com/birth-mother

http://www.sweettreereview.com/practice-for-living-bo-schwabacher

http://www.sweettreereview.com/halmoni-bo-schwabacher

What are you reading right now?

I love strong, brave women who know exactly what it’s like to be a feisty girl in a sexist country.  I’m currently reading If They Come for Us by Fatimah Asghar. I will always love Dog Songs by Mary Oliver.  

Robert Hass’s Praise inspired me and influenced me while I was writing “Practice for Living.”  His poetry brought me comfort and hope this last spring and summer. I keep returning to his phrase: “undivided light.”  I am a huge fan of The Sun too. 

What’s next for you?

My book of poems, Omma, Sea of Joy and Other Astrological Signs, is forthcoming with Tinderbox Editions. I am thrilled to be working with editor Molly Sutton Kiefer and designer Nikkita Cohoon. A friend introduced me to Blind Faith’s song “Sea of Joy,” which has that feeling of trying to penetrate one’s barriers and the anticipation of a journey that promises a profound change: “And I’m feeling close to where the race is run/Waiting in our boats to set sail, sea of joy.” I’ve been thinking about my birth mother, how strong she is, and how love, in whatever form, is where my faith lies and is what guides my writing and my life.