A review by nataliedc
The Kingdom of Surfaces: Poems by Sally Wen Mao

dark emotional reflective medium-paced

4.0

A lovely full-length collection of poems that explores the intersection of beauty and violence, commodification and colonization through motifs of porcelain, silk, and pearls. Sally Wen Mao's verse is both delicate and powerful as it uses fragile images like vases to invoke heavy subject such as anti-Asian hate perpetuated by the COVID-19 pandemic. While I wholly enjoyed the writing style and resonated with much of the themes discussed, I felt the collection was a little too drawn-out and that many of the poems (specifically in the middle part) could've been cut out as they covered such similar ground. With that said, I still really enjoyed this collection and hope to check out more of the author's works soon. Favorites include: All the "On Porcelain"s, "Batshit," "Minted," and "American Loneliness."