Sinuous

by Lydia Kwa

Through the mind's eye Lydia Kwa charts the path of the stranger in a new land, the immigrant seeking escape, and transformation from the suffering of the past. Sinuous is a journey toward self-realization and acknowledgest that through the fiery trials of life it is possible to find renewed strength and purpose for the future.

Genres: Poetry

128 pages, Paperback

First published September 15, 2013

Reviews

[Eaton Hamilton · Rating 4 out of 5]

It's an odd sensation, wanting to quote this book back at itself instead of reviewing it. The lines that ricochet from one side of my brain to the other: "Someone I could bruise with my hands, if I still had them." [...] "I imagine each body I have stroked and rejected, until the//memories ache at my wrists." [...] "Light and air, before any reason to forget the beauty of//apricots." Here we find haunting lines that tell the story of dispossession by immigration; broken tales of torture and torment from countries known before; reflections on 9/11.

I will return to finish this review...

[Dennis Bolen · Rating 4 out of 5]

Published by Turnstone Press in late 2013, Lydia Kwa's 'Sinuous' wrestles with identity; racial, sexual, familial. Her most thrilling verse occurs when relating inner turmoil: 'uncommon destroyer...she has the feel of an angel or/bodhisattva...could she rescue me from Bad Daughter syndrome?/where being away signifies failure/and failure to conform signifies disloyalty?' Always at the heart of the matter is the struggle for self: 'one day one day one day/another generation/may transcend fear's paranoid grasp'. Thematically throughout there is the reconciliation of the inner schisms caused by where one has been, where one comes from, where one is going, where one is now. In the sense of an examination of individual place, and the value of memory in defining the self, this serves the book well.

Author of the BC Book prize shortlisted novel 'The Walking Boy', and a previous poetry collection, Lydia Kwa lives and writes in Vancouver. While perhaps suffering somewhat with a preponderance of obscure, not-likely-to-be-widely-understood notation—'I look for things I failed to discover in my childhood/cordyceps, fu ling, dong quai/white cloud's ears, wong lo kat...'—the poetry is adorned by Ms. Kwa's well-drawn sense of place, detail, and occasional glib local assessments: 'even Hello Kitty has it rough on East Pender'.

[Hannah · Rating 3 out of 5]

Parts of this collection are poignant meditations on Vancouver, immigration, and identity. There are also parts of this collection that are more inwardly-focused about spiritualism and Buddhism, but written with less depth and nuance.

[Laura · Rating 4 out of 5]

I love Lydia's poetry. it is so sensuous and visceral. It awakes your appetites.
In this collection I also loved the poems that obviously came out of her work in counselling.