The following version of this poem was used to create this guide: Li, Ian. “Old Brooklyn Magic.” Nightmare Magazine, https://www.nightmare-magazine.com/poetry/old-brooklyn-magic/.

Note that all parenthetical citations refer to the line number from which the quotation is taken.

“Old Brooklyn Magic” is a seven-stanza urban poem by Chinese-Canadian poet Ian Li. It was written to explore how the poet’s experience of being in a new country “magnif[ied] the delightful and the spooky such that the real and gritty began to feel surreal”. The poem reflects on the myriad faces of a single city, and how it is shaped by each individual perspective.