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A review by brice_mo
The Kingdom of Surfaces: Poems by Sally Wen Mao
4.0
This is a really wonderful collection in general, but it shines in “The Kingdom of Surfaces.” I feel this poem is where Sally Wen Mao most successfully weaves history and personal experience together, and the result is gutting in the best way.
There are a few poems that don’t “work” quite as well, but I don’t know that there would have been a way to make them work. For example, “American Loneliness” falters a bit by losing (some of) the specificity of the poet’s experience in favor of trying to think more universally about Asian-American identity. This poem, like a few others, is characterized by righteous anger and urgency in responding to the rise in anti-Asian hate crimes, but I think it highlights how there can’t really be a coherent response to the irrational problem of violence.
The poem seems to search for a “why” when there isn’t one to be found, but maybe that is the point.
It’s a testament to the Sally Wen Mao’s ability, though, that even a weaker poem in the collection still has moments that are stunning, and in most other collections, it would be the pinnacle of the book.
There are a few poems that don’t “work” quite as well, but I don’t know that there would have been a way to make them work. For example, “American Loneliness” falters a bit by losing (some of) the specificity of the poet’s experience in favor of trying to think more universally about Asian-American identity. This poem, like a few others, is characterized by righteous anger and urgency in responding to the rise in anti-Asian hate crimes, but I think it highlights how there can’t really be a coherent response to the irrational problem of violence.
The poem seems to search for a “why” when there isn’t one to be found, but maybe that is the point.
It’s a testament to the Sally Wen Mao’s ability, though, that even a weaker poem in the collection still has moments that are stunning, and in most other collections, it would be the pinnacle of the book.