Response to "Quaking Cantos: Nepal Earthquake Poems" and A Blizzard in my Bones: New York Poems from Lisa T, Concord, New Hampshire, I met Lisa last week at my reading and book signing at Griffin Free Public library...
Hello Yuyu,
I read your book "Quaking Cantos," and I am so
impressed with your keen use of language especially when I consider that
English is not your first language. The way that you marry words together shows
the endlessness of your imagination and creates imagery that is staggering and
vivid. Your form is as jagged and painful as the events themselves and I am
struck by your ability to take on such a massive task. How painful the actual
events must have been!
"The Burning Sun," is an example of this, the baby is
"bare and howling in the bleeding eye of the growling sun..."
In "The Family Deity," the use of "atonement
stubs," is so perfect, but to have thought of the two together is
brilliant.
If I had to pick a favorite it would be "Course of
Courage," for its cadence, language and imagery.
I have begun to read "A Blizzard in my Bones," and it
is quite a different experience. It is fun to read the impressions of a city I
love by someone with more clarity and objectivity. There is a lot of humor,
irony and reality in this book and I was very amused by your poem about
observing a woman on the subway putting on her make up, stop by stop.
Great work!
Namaste
Lisa T"
