Nguyen, Hoa

While the collection feels at times deeply personal, it is also representative of loss as a whole, and readers will find pieces of themselves in this collection while also feeling themselves immersed in Diêp Anh Nguyên’s Vietnam. Recommended for all collections.

Because Nguyen is the cofounder of a poetry journal called Skanky Possum, her wit comes as no surprise, though what can sound almost energetically goofy ("I'm almost your cat's pajamas") often turns acid ("give me history or give me/ a name unknown in zoology/ So I can be anything but empty doll")...