BY RYAN PORTER
The answer to Thammavongsa’s rhetorical question is salutary: “Slingshot” appeared in both Harper’s and the 2019 edition of The O. Henry Prize Stories before finding its way into How to Pronounce Knife. It is typical of the new collection in that it is fast and sexy and – not incidentally – very funny. “When I write poetry, I feel like I’m not allowed to be funny,” Thammavongsa says. “I feel like I can’t carry that.”