Karyna McGlynn is seen as a unique poet in the realm of contemporary American poetry. In her collection of poems, she describes the past and present in a novel and a surreal way which she called “appropriation autobiography”. Especially in the poem “I Have to Go Back to 1994 and Kill a Girl” and some other poems such as “Where There Should Be a Plant Stand, There Isn’t,” and “Somebody Shook Me: Wake Up it’s Raining Oil”. These poems present an exploration of memory and idenot only memorializes historical tragedies but also celebrates the strength and survival of the Cambodian spirit and culture.ntity. They are not isolated snapshots but are stories that are connected. The stories reflect similar themes and reveal the interconnect of personal history’s impact on the individual. 

Through the literary devices and detailed descriptions in these three poems, McGlynn expresses her feelings about her past and her self-identity. As McGlynn states in the foreword “I Have to Go Back to 1994 and Kill a Girl is a kind of ‘appropriation autobiography’,” which is a way of telling pieces of memory that make readers feel familiar. In the title of the poem “Where There Should Be a Plant Stand, There Isn’t” and the verse “I hear people talking in the kitchen, but there's no way / to get to them; they've had three drinks too many.”, McGlynn deftly provides imagery of the collision of past and reality. The missing of the plant stand highlights the themes of loss, missed connection, and the haunting presence of the past. Home becomes a crime scene and symbolizes McGlynn’s mysterious identity. This can't help but make the reader wonder about her past identity when this crime took place and if I've experienced a similar scenario. Similarly, in the poem “I Have to Go Back to 1994 and Kill a Girl”, the verse “It’s no wonder I’m always tired with all these tract houses— / It’s night & cold” not only extends the physical tiredness but also indicates the weariness of reinventing oneself and an immutable past. The nights here are like a trip that slows down time, and the author is trapped in this time and space without any way to escape. The verse painted an impressive image for the readers, asking if they have seen tract houses or if they ever felt tired on a cold night. Thus, these poems narrate McGlynn’s miserable past and paradoxically and unrecognizably show her identity through the way of “appropriation autobiography.”

As an artist and poet, McGlynn also introduced the surreal form of creativity into her poems. The surrealism in these poems manifests through unusual juxtaposition, dreamlike imagery, and the transformation from logical narratives to deeper emotions. In the poem “Where There Should Be a Plant Stand, There Isn't” the verse “I think someone's been here—a smoker, / trying to bypass the now-defunct security system.” The image of a smoker disabling the security system amplified and blurred the violent scene. A smoker is a person who breaks into a room and commits a crime. And the now-defunct security system is the unlocked door that seems can’t be opened. In the poem “Somebody Shook Me: Wake Up It's Raining Oil”, the verse “every step's turned on flesh / & the handrail's slathered in / apricot jelly baby if only we” narrates an unstable memory. The terms such as “turned on flesh”, “jelly baby” and the term “raining oil” in the title do not have any actual meanings. These words are used to enlarge the dreamlike imagery of McGlynn’s memory. In the other poem “I Have to Go Back to 1994 and Kill a Girl”, the verse “police cars roll / past but continue / down the treeless parkway / even after shining / their lights on / me in my freshman sundress” uses unusual juxtaposition to express McGlynn’s tiredness. The shining lights and freshman sundress are two unrelated items. However, if we try to understand the tiredness in the scene, the author doesn't know what she is wearing. The appearance of these two unrelated items can be understood emotionally. Therefore, through transformation from logical narratives to deeper emotions, these surreal images can be understood as an “appropriation autobiography” that supports the theme of memory and identity. 

Karyna McGlynn’s poetry is unconventional. Her use of surreal imagery in narrating her past and identity is transcendent. The creation of the new form of poem — “appropriation autobiography” in her works “I Have to Go Back to 1994 and Kill a Girl”, “Where There Should Be a Plant Stand, There Isn’t,” and “Somebody Shook Me: Wake Up it’s Raining Oil” make it easy for readers to relate to themselves and leave readers with a special sense of familiarity. Every time reading her poems, the sense of a time travel journey and the shadows of pasts will always come to mind.