Sudden Prose Reprints: "Of the World's Largest Multilevel Parking Garage" by Cathy Park Hong

Here is the last selection from "Adventures in Shangdu," the eleventh of 17 pieces.


Of the World's Largest Multilevel Parking Garage

When Officials ignored their strike, the crane operators decided to be more aggressive. They worked all night. The next morning, train carriages, buses, limousines, bicycles, boats, and even helicopters swung lazily in the wind, magnetized by cranes. Negotiate, they cried, and we will free all your vehicles. Finally, Officials promised to bargain but when meeting day approached, the army rushed into the bargaining room and all the operators conveniently disappeared. Until Shangdu finds a new generation of qualified crane operators, no one knows how to work the cranes and release the vehicles. The magnetized vehicles sway in the breeze, rust in the rain. One driver was drunkenly passed out when they lifted his taxi up into the night. He has lost his voice, calling out to the shuddering city.

You can learn more about Hong and her work from her website, and you can buy Engine Empire from Foyle's by following this link.

Sudden Prose Reprints: "Of the Old Ukrainian Embassy That Will Be Torn Down for the Hanger Factory" by Cathy Park Hong

Here is the second prose poem from Cathy Park Hong's "Adventures in Shangdu," the ninth of 17 pieces.


Of the Old Ukrainian Embassy That Will Be Torn Down for the Hanger Factory

Boomtown is Shangdu's brand name. How do you like Boomtown Shangdu? Everyday, 2,000 more people flood into Shangdu to work in our 2,000 factories. Do you know why? Shangdu is booming! Guides will say that twenty years ago, there was nothing but a gas station and a few scattered pig farms along the river. I was one of the few born in Shangdu and it is true what they say about the farms but the guides do not mention how Officials used to dump all the cripples from the Capital into Shangdu. Now that Shangdu is booming, they have rounded all the cripples and exiled them to a remote outpost up north. That outpost is also beginning to boom.

Cathy Park Hong


You can learn more about Hong and her work from her website, and you can buy Engine Empire from Foyle's by following this link.

Sudden Prose Reprints: "Of Lucky Highrise Apartment 88" by Cathy Park Hong

"Adventures in Shangdu," from Engine Empire, is comprised of 17 prose poems. Here is the first one.


Of Lucky Highrise Apartment 88

The contractors were in a hurry to catch up with the rest of the world so they rushed off before they finished building Highrise 88. So here is my apartment without its last wall, gaping out to a panoramic view of Shangdu's river. Across the river, all the white-tiled factories hum anxiously. This hum of 2,000 factories can inspire or drive you mad. Yesterday, a drunk man and a suicide used 88's unencumbered views to fall to their deaths and now there are ads for new roommates. I am one of the few women who live alone in this building. My last roommate married as quickly as she moved in with me. I see her in the neighborhood, pregnant and gloating, with men who fetch her footstools.

You can learn more about Hong and her work from her website, and you can--and hopefully will--buy Engine Empire from Foyle's by following this link--it's 25% off at the time of posting!