Decadence

by Thuy On

Poetry

Genres: Poetry

98 pages, Paperback

First published July 1, 2022

Reviews

[Sandra · Rating 5 out of 5]

Someone told me this was the best thing they have read all year & I must agree it is a special read.

This poetry collection is made of 3 parts.

Meta: Word play that is both fun & clever

Sans

That letter was wounded
I shot the serif
the projection abutting
the smooth lines
an affront to the type
of face I wanted:
naked without
flourishes.

Physical: Pure love so Eros 💕


Extract from: A new lexicon

You are
the day that tastes like mango 🥭
a silver asterix on my night's page

We are
hyphenated-bifurcated
locked in a bolt of ampersand


Space: the things inbetween

Milk

Not whitewashing my name
means I have to proffer a new one
so the barista can call out
something pale and watery
like half-strength English breakfast
to wash down the fluffy scones
made from full cream
homogenised milk.

[claudia · Rating 5 out of 5]

“to be lived beautifully
a flower unfurls for itself”
📖

[dangerous at every speed · Rating 2 out of 5]

ironically the poem i liked most was the least typically ‘poem like’ - “melbourne in concert”

[Lee Kofman · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a great collection! Finally poetry that I can understand yet it is also uncompromisingly sophisticated. On writes with elegance, humour and quirky imagination. Her words are seductive and wry and wise.

[F.M Papaz · Rating 4 out of 5]

META, PHYSICAL, SPACES - these are the three sections of this poetry collection & there's such a wealth of meaning in each of them. Thuy On is deeply creative in Decadence. She plays with language, she calls out the red flags in institutional literary spaces, she shares beautiful scenes of romantic love and heartbreak. Whatever the topic, each poem provokes the reader to pause, to reread, to marvel. It's an incredible work that will stay in the stack of poetry on my desk that I reach for to inspire and push my own writing.

[Nabil · Rating 3 out of 5]

"A book worm is an ink drinker
coursing blue-black
that glides after the swallow of pages
sluicing through veins
with cellular efficiency

past plump organs
beating hard now after the ingestion
of vital words that break down
to morphemes
trace elements
of sustenance."

[Natasha (jouljet) · Rating 3 out of 5]

A crisp collection of poetry of place, tenderness and tension.

Loved the Melbourne place markers, vivid street moments. The tender affection, wisps of love.

[Rania T · Rating 5 out of 5]

Talented. That is for sure.

[Deb Chapman · Rating 4 out of 5]

Wonderful! Really enjoyed this and a big improvement on her last collection I thought. Loved the word play poems most, the lovesick ones least.

[Emily Fletcher · Rating 5 out of 5]

Fantastic, beautiful and transcendental - a poetry collection that is a love letter to literature and to life.