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At the End of the World There Is a Pond: Poems
A stunning debut volume infused with apocalyptic overload, beginnings and endings, and all the ways we betray ourselves.
At the End of the World There Is a Pond is a book about aftermaths. Each poem comes in the wake of a deep rupture—the rupture of mental illness and addiction, of migration and displacement, of violence, familial conflict, and ecological catastrophe. The speakers of these poems engage with despair and playfulness in equal measure, always allowing humor, irony, and the exuberance of the natural world to bend darkness toward something like hope.
Again and again, Steven Duong’s writing excavates the unnatural conditions of the seemingly natural the betta fish trapped in its mason jar, the forest choked by invasive kudzu, the elephant wounded in a landmine blast. Ultimately, At the End of the World There Is a Pond articulates an impossible How can we reconcile a deep love for the world in all its buzzing, wriggling aliveness with an equally deep self-destructive desire to leave it behind?
At the End of the World There Is a Pond is a book about aftermaths. Each poem comes in the wake of a deep rupture—the rupture of mental illness and addiction, of migration and displacement, of violence, familial conflict, and ecological catastrophe. The speakers of these poems engage with despair and playfulness in equal measure, always allowing humor, irony, and the exuberance of the natural world to bend darkness toward something like hope.
Again and again, Steven Duong’s writing excavates the unnatural conditions of the seemingly natural the betta fish trapped in its mason jar, the forest choked by invasive kudzu, the elephant wounded in a landmine blast. Ultimately, At the End of the World There Is a Pond articulates an impossible How can we reconcile a deep love for the world in all its buzzing, wriggling aliveness with an equally deep self-destructive desire to leave it behind?
- GenresPoetryAsian American
112 pages, Hardcover
First published January 14, 2025
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3308 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 31 reviews
February 16, 2025
steven duong it seems I’ve grown quite fond of you. you come to me as a long lost friend whom I once picked apples with in papa’s orchard.
a collection aware of its aesthetic modes, the limits of its own existence as a book/object/commodity, and one that doesn't shy away from the political contradictions of the "diaspora kid" genre of contemporary poetry.
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some favorites:
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a collection aware of its aesthetic modes, the limits of its own existence as a book/object/commodity, and one that doesn't shy away from the political contradictions of the "diaspora kid" genre of contemporary poetry.
—
some favorites:
in every line of work there is an instrument / called metaphor, that mode of torture in / which you bend a body until it says what / you want it to, this body, like all bodies, a set / of desires with an open mouth.
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Yes, that's me in the front camera's shithole gaze, razor burns & teeth yellowing like linens.
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I allow him to imagine me / happy. I tell him on a Tuesday I fed mangoes / to a ten-year-old elephant. I do not tell him / it was recovering from a land mine blast.
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as soon as this check clears / I am done writing about us.
June 24, 2025
You know how poetry is hit or miss for me? This was a miss.
I obviously wanted to love it due to our shared heritage, but that isn't always an indicator of success. It is what it is.
📱 Thank you to NetGalley and W. W. Norton & Company
I obviously wanted to love it due to our shared heritage, but that isn't always an indicator of success. It is what it is.
📱 Thank you to NetGalley and W. W. Norton & Company
February 6, 2025
the chairman mao poem tickled me. good poetry collection a lot of it went over my head though
October 18, 2025
I feel so ill at ease reviewing poetry collections. The ones I love are easy, but everything in between still feels hard. At the end of the world there is a pond is one that is a challenge, but as I’ve turned it around, I think four stars fits.
I did not emotionally connect with many of these poems, but there were at least a half dozen I read more than once. I loved the language, and the sometimes surprising turns (Tumblr blue! Such a specific visual term and one I would never have considered, invasive love, is another) that the language and description took, and often I appreciated this in spaces where the poems didn’t really connect in other ways.
I really enjoyed the reoccurring Novel series throughout the book as well, and found myself sometimes referring back to earlier ones as I read later ones.
Overall there were a handful of poems that made me stop. Others that were kind of shrug shoulders. But the language throughout did delight, and so four stars it is.
I did not emotionally connect with many of these poems, but there were at least a half dozen I read more than once. I loved the language, and the sometimes surprising turns (Tumblr blue! Such a specific visual term and one I would never have considered, invasive love, is another) that the language and description took, and often I appreciated this in spaces where the poems didn’t really connect in other ways.
I really enjoyed the reoccurring Novel series throughout the book as well, and found myself sometimes referring back to earlier ones as I read later ones.
Overall there were a handful of poems that made me stop. Others that were kind of shrug shoulders. But the language throughout did delight, and so four stars it is.
October 8, 2024
Thank you to Netgalley for the digital ARC!
"What the fuck is a necessary violence?
At the bottom of the pond is another pond. With the right gear, you can go there.
I have only ever been diving in fresh water, where snails are moss-
swallowed fists, where men toss their breath like nickels in a well.
The only way to sink is to empty yourself.
The only way in is down."
"What the fuck is a necessary violence?
At the bottom of the pond is another pond. With the right gear, you can go there.
I have only ever been diving in fresh water, where snails are moss-
swallowed fists, where men toss their breath like nickels in a well.
The only way to sink is to empty yourself.
The only way in is down."
January 16, 2025
Beautiful
February 17, 2025
Some incredibly beautiful moments in here
March 9, 2025
Finished reading 3/9/25 with 22 pages.
I received this book as an Advanced Reading Copy from the giveaway on Goodreads. Personally rated this book 3 stars because I’m not sure I am the targeted audience for this book so many parts of this book went over my head, although some of the parts I connected with quite a bit! Overall a good book talking about the authors experiences and feelings.
I received this book as an Advanced Reading Copy from the giveaway on Goodreads. Personally rated this book 3 stars because I’m not sure I am the targeted audience for this book so many parts of this book went over my head, although some of the parts I connected with quite a bit! Overall a good book talking about the authors experiences and feelings.
November 26, 2024
Thanks to NetGalley and W.W. Norton for the ARC!
Steven Duong’s At the End of the World There Is a Pond charts a gentle but intentional path through the shuddering aftermath of crisis.
If you haven’t been paying attention, the world is in a pretty dire state. We must live with grief, but we must also choose whether we will be unmade or animated by it. Duong insists upon the latter.
So many poetry collections reckon with destruction—a desire to reach a conclusion and start a new sentence, a hope to be free from our obligation to outmoded syntax. The problem is that while it’s very easy to imagine the end, it’s very difficult to imagine a beginning.
Fitting comfortably alongside Franny Choi’s The World Keeps Ending, and the World Goes On and Diana Khoi Nguyen’s Root Fractures, Duong’s poems constantly look past the feeling of finality. Nihilism is a privilege, and it’s one that isn’t afforded to the speaker here.
More importantly, it’s also a waste.
Readers are constantly led to the tranquility of the titular pond when chaos might be more comfortable. These poems aren’t afraid of violence, as seen in the aching “Ordnance” and its depiction of war's blunt stupidity, but they also refuse to stagnate there. As one might expect from the book’s title and cover, fish are a recurrent motif, and they offer a fitting image and set of poetics for the work—there’s something primordial about fish, almost alien in the way they slip shapelessly through water. Similarly, these poems are delightfully amorphous, moving through shifting forms and themes, addressing racism and Rico Nasty without so much as a ripple. Duong writes with such an intuitive hand that every line feels inevitable, but what makes the collection so special is that each poem also feels like an argument for intentionality.
One highlight is “The Living,” which is a gorgeous depiction of persistence as resistance, a reminder of how life holds beauty and ugliness in such close proximity that it’s impossible to imagine one without the other. It’s a succinct representation of the book as a whole—for hope to carry meaning, it must first accept the full weight of how horrible things actually are.
The end is here. What’s next?
Steven Duong’s At the End of the World There Is a Pond charts a gentle but intentional path through the shuddering aftermath of crisis.
If you haven’t been paying attention, the world is in a pretty dire state. We must live with grief, but we must also choose whether we will be unmade or animated by it. Duong insists upon the latter.
So many poetry collections reckon with destruction—a desire to reach a conclusion and start a new sentence, a hope to be free from our obligation to outmoded syntax. The problem is that while it’s very easy to imagine the end, it’s very difficult to imagine a beginning.
Fitting comfortably alongside Franny Choi’s The World Keeps Ending, and the World Goes On and Diana Khoi Nguyen’s Root Fractures, Duong’s poems constantly look past the feeling of finality. Nihilism is a privilege, and it’s one that isn’t afforded to the speaker here.
More importantly, it’s also a waste.
Readers are constantly led to the tranquility of the titular pond when chaos might be more comfortable. These poems aren’t afraid of violence, as seen in the aching “Ordnance” and its depiction of war's blunt stupidity, but they also refuse to stagnate there. As one might expect from the book’s title and cover, fish are a recurrent motif, and they offer a fitting image and set of poetics for the work—there’s something primordial about fish, almost alien in the way they slip shapelessly through water. Similarly, these poems are delightfully amorphous, moving through shifting forms and themes, addressing racism and Rico Nasty without so much as a ripple. Duong writes with such an intuitive hand that every line feels inevitable, but what makes the collection so special is that each poem also feels like an argument for intentionality.
One highlight is “The Living,” which is a gorgeous depiction of persistence as resistance, a reminder of how life holds beauty and ugliness in such close proximity that it’s impossible to imagine one without the other. It’s a succinct representation of the book as a whole—for hope to carry meaning, it must first accept the full weight of how horrible things actually are.
The end is here. What’s next?
November 23, 2024
4 / 5 stars
Thank you W. W. Norton & CompanyNetGalley for the ebook ARC. I'm very grateful to review this book.
While I enjoy poetry, and write it quite a bit myself, there are many poems that were hits. But there are also some that went over my head. I noticed a lot will say something then say another seemingly arbitrary but connects…somehow. It will take a few reads but there is definitely something here.
But what did I like? My favorite are how the ways this poet begins, ends, then continues. I love the beginning and ending lines of each poem (they will either catch you off guard - in a good way - and intrigue you or make you ponder more of what was said). One I thought of were the “novel” poems because I thought it was a poem that should've been taken out because it felt incomplete. But then it came up again in another poem called… “novel,” which is intentional and a great continuation. I love that there is no “II” or “cont.” but it's just simply continuing, which aligns with the river and stream imagery this collection depicts. I also enjoyed the “tattoo” poems that continued back to back, unlike the “novel” poems that were scattered throughout.
I love the beginning and ending (parts I and IV) but felt meh about the middle. There were poems I enjoyed, but it didn't impact me because of the complex imagery and comparisons this author uses. I don't think it's a bad thing, but it's definitely something everyone should know and realize it's definitely not something they'll understand right away.
I personally hope to get this collection because there are things that stick with me, such as the author using words like wet and whet or how a story will just end in a lake, where the stream or river will end. Powerful. This collection isn't perfect, but I enjoyed a good amount of it.
I also enjoyed the LOTR references.
Thank you W. W. Norton & CompanyNetGalley for the ebook ARC. I'm very grateful to review this book.
While I enjoy poetry, and write it quite a bit myself, there are many poems that were hits. But there are also some that went over my head. I noticed a lot will say something then say another seemingly arbitrary but connects…somehow. It will take a few reads but there is definitely something here.
But what did I like? My favorite are how the ways this poet begins, ends, then continues. I love the beginning and ending lines of each poem (they will either catch you off guard - in a good way - and intrigue you or make you ponder more of what was said). One I thought of were the “novel” poems because I thought it was a poem that should've been taken out because it felt incomplete. But then it came up again in another poem called… “novel,” which is intentional and a great continuation. I love that there is no “II” or “cont.” but it's just simply continuing, which aligns with the river and stream imagery this collection depicts. I also enjoyed the “tattoo” poems that continued back to back, unlike the “novel” poems that were scattered throughout.
I love the beginning and ending (parts I and IV) but felt meh about the middle. There were poems I enjoyed, but it didn't impact me because of the complex imagery and comparisons this author uses. I don't think it's a bad thing, but it's definitely something everyone should know and realize it's definitely not something they'll understand right away.
I personally hope to get this collection because there are things that stick with me, such as the author using words like wet and whet or how a story will just end in a lake, where the stream or river will end. Powerful. This collection isn't perfect, but I enjoyed a good amount of it.
I also enjoyed the LOTR references.
November 1, 2025
Best-Case Scenario
This century ends underwater, the earth inherited by
catfish the size of sedans. The highways bloom into rivers & the roaches
sprout gills. Business booms. Water striders stride. The value of fins
skyrockets while the value of legs eats shit. The bones of the poets,
still belted to their Camrys, are settled by runaway guppies sprung
from home aquariums, which become museums the way Alcatraz
& Angel Island are museums, the way Japanese internment camps
have gift shops, My Lai four stars on Tripadvisor. By the end, the borders
drown themselves. Tilapia born & raised in Lake Malawi drive west
to kick it with Tahoe trout & Yangtze river dolphins. Fin to fin,
they make circles in a CVS parking lot, gliding like sunken angels
through clouds of Lexapro & Opana. Theirs is a legless future,
but like the roaches, some of us are still kicking. Everyone
who ever wanted to live is dead. The rest of us tread water. (69)
I Vow to Stop Putting It Mildly
My father voted for your father
to die.
He did this with great enthusiasm,
animated by what he believed was
the spirit of his own father,
a civil engineer who spent a year
in a reeducation camp.
My father put your father
in a camp. He did this with his hands,
swiftly & without regrets, a harmonica
strapped to his neck
like a Jesus piece.
My father is the Biggie Smalls
of calculated losses,
the Bob Dylan of towns on fire.
Once, I saw in his face
an invasive species of love which said
If you really love me
you must be someone I can love.
Twice, he translated my poems
so his mother might
better know me.
There is kindness here, but there
are kindnesses everywhere.
One day, I will teach my children to climb
the ladder I am always climbing.
Or I won’t. There’s a chance
I won’t. (86)
This century ends underwater, the earth inherited by
catfish the size of sedans. The highways bloom into rivers & the roaches
sprout gills. Business booms. Water striders stride. The value of fins
skyrockets while the value of legs eats shit. The bones of the poets,
still belted to their Camrys, are settled by runaway guppies sprung
from home aquariums, which become museums the way Alcatraz
& Angel Island are museums, the way Japanese internment camps
have gift shops, My Lai four stars on Tripadvisor. By the end, the borders
drown themselves. Tilapia born & raised in Lake Malawi drive west
to kick it with Tahoe trout & Yangtze river dolphins. Fin to fin,
they make circles in a CVS parking lot, gliding like sunken angels
through clouds of Lexapro & Opana. Theirs is a legless future,
but like the roaches, some of us are still kicking. Everyone
who ever wanted to live is dead. The rest of us tread water. (69)
I Vow to Stop Putting It Mildly
My father voted for your father
to die.
He did this with great enthusiasm,
animated by what he believed was
the spirit of his own father,
a civil engineer who spent a year
in a reeducation camp.
My father put your father
in a camp. He did this with his hands,
swiftly & without regrets, a harmonica
strapped to his neck
like a Jesus piece.
My father is the Biggie Smalls
of calculated losses,
the Bob Dylan of towns on fire.
Once, I saw in his face
an invasive species of love which said
If you really love me
you must be someone I can love.
Twice, he translated my poems
so his mother might
better know me.
There is kindness here, but there
are kindnesses everywhere.
One day, I will teach my children to climb
the ladder I am always climbing.
Or I won’t. There’s a chance
I won’t. (86)
December 15, 2025
This poetry collection seemed to contain multiple disparate threads of theme, leaving them and returning to them at various points. Though I am not sure this approach worked for me personally, I found other things to admire.
For example, I enjoyed how some poems followed an American descendent of immigrants as they travel the world. I enjoyed the multi-faceted terrain this reveals, the conversations and discussions that revealing this terrain can make possible. Most travelogues I've encountered in my existence tend to be rooted in prose and a white-bodied gaze. It was an unexpected surprise to realize this was a niche I was yearning to see more diversity in. It was a fun coincidence to see quite a few poems set in Malawi, a country I've spent a long period of time in, as well.
Another aspect that interested me was the thread of poems that followed a writer and their novel-in-progress. I love art about making art. It felt enjoyably meta.
I also admired the inclusion of contemporary slang and language in many of the poems.
Overall, while there were plenty of strong qualities, the collection landed pretty neutrally for me. Most of the poems, though I found them worth the reading and analysis, didn't crack me open as fully as I hoped. Reading poetry and reading in general can be such a personal, nuanced thing. I am sure other readers will find plenty to discover in these pages.
Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher!
For example, I enjoyed how some poems followed an American descendent of immigrants as they travel the world. I enjoyed the multi-faceted terrain this reveals, the conversations and discussions that revealing this terrain can make possible. Most travelogues I've encountered in my existence tend to be rooted in prose and a white-bodied gaze. It was an unexpected surprise to realize this was a niche I was yearning to see more diversity in. It was a fun coincidence to see quite a few poems set in Malawi, a country I've spent a long period of time in, as well.
Another aspect that interested me was the thread of poems that followed a writer and their novel-in-progress. I love art about making art. It felt enjoyably meta.
I also admired the inclusion of contemporary slang and language in many of the poems.
Overall, while there were plenty of strong qualities, the collection landed pretty neutrally for me. Most of the poems, though I found them worth the reading and analysis, didn't crack me open as fully as I hoped. Reading poetry and reading in general can be such a personal, nuanced thing. I am sure other readers will find plenty to discover in these pages.
Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher!
October 24, 2024
Modern, funny, existential, and tragic. I really enjoyed this collection and connected to a lot of the feelings in these poems. We’re all feeling and seeing a lot these days and, there’s just an endless amount to process. This book, I felt, acknowledged and pointed a finger to some of them as a way of beginning to heal and keep going, all the while knowing we might get shot in the back again at any moment.
I’m definitely an amateur when it comes to poetry (but an enthusiastic one!), and I felt that lot of clever things were done with format and line breaks here, too, which raised this one up for me especially. Truly, I think the author did a great job here, and I’d like to read more of his work in the future. That is, if we all get to keep on going for a while. Here’s hoping.
My thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for the digital review copy. Check this book out on January 14, 2025.
I’m definitely an amateur when it comes to poetry (but an enthusiastic one!), and I felt that lot of clever things were done with format and line breaks here, too, which raised this one up for me especially. Truly, I think the author did a great job here, and I’d like to read more of his work in the future. That is, if we all get to keep on going for a while. Here’s hoping.
My thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for the digital review copy. Check this book out on January 14, 2025.
May 23, 2025
I know I already said this last summer about some other collection, but this book makes me understand collections. Each piece shares his vernacular!!! In very very fresh ways (dust, pet fish, ponds, ocean water)
For Meg Fernandes fans… Mary Jo Bang fans…. Cindy Juyoung Ok fans….
I don’t always love his endings and I hated the Newtown poem. I guess I’ve been writing about Newtown for 11 years and nobody can get it right so it’s okay.
series of poems called Novel that are sonnets is genius
Lately so much of life reminds me of my life or the possibilities of it. I don’t completely share his aesthetic (like maybe 85-90%?) and that space is very fertile for me as a reader!!
For Meg Fernandes fans… Mary Jo Bang fans…. Cindy Juyoung Ok fans….
I don’t always love his endings and I hated the Newtown poem. I guess I’ve been writing about Newtown for 11 years and nobody can get it right so it’s okay.
series of poems called Novel that are sonnets is genius
Lately so much of life reminds me of my life or the possibilities of it. I don’t completely share his aesthetic (like maybe 85-90%?) and that space is very fertile for me as a reader!!
October 20, 2024
Thank you NetGalley and W.W. Norton & Company for an ARC of this book!
This was a fast and though provoking collection of poems. One element I really enjoyed was a running narrative surrounding the poets venture to writing a book. This aspect of a narrative elevated the discussion surrounding race and culture.
Although this was a relatively quick read, I think this collection could have done with a few more poems, and a slow down in pace. Maybe it was the Kindle formatting, or the brevity of some of the lines, but many of the poems and pieces in this collection felt rushed.
This was a fast and though provoking collection of poems. One element I really enjoyed was a running narrative surrounding the poets venture to writing a book. This aspect of a narrative elevated the discussion surrounding race and culture.
Although this was a relatively quick read, I think this collection could have done with a few more poems, and a slow down in pace. Maybe it was the Kindle formatting, or the brevity of some of the lines, but many of the poems and pieces in this collection felt rushed.
April 2, 2025
The collection was fine, I just don’t think I really connected with it. By part 4, I was ready to be done with it honestly. I think the first 2 parts were the strongest. I do appreciate the author’s connection to/metaphor of water and fish as alluded to in the title. Some poetry collections fail to do this.
Overall the book delivers on what the title and summary promise, the execution just wasn’t as interesting or engaging as I had hoped especially after seeing the high Goodreads rating. I love poetry about apocalypse or endings, this one just didn’t work for me.
Overall the book delivers on what the title and summary promise, the execution just wasn’t as interesting or engaging as I had hoped especially after seeing the high Goodreads rating. I love poetry about apocalypse or endings, this one just didn’t work for me.
April 11, 2025
I was hoping I could vibe with the diaspora/immigrant experience and the apocalyptic themes (there were none), but unfortunately I felt quite disconnected with the poems. Most of them flew over my head, and the rest conjured very little in me. I did enjoy the recurring themes of fish (scars as remnant of a dorsal fin, freedom as fish jumping from their tanks) and the series of poems titled “Novel” where Duong details the creative process of writing his novel.
February 1, 2025
3.75/5: sometimes beautiful, sometimes meaningful.
Disclaimer: I received this as an ARC through a Goodreads Giveaway. A review was requested but not required, and the content was my own. The version I read may be different from the finished copy.
Disclaimer: I received this as an ARC through a Goodreads Giveaway. A review was requested but not required, and the content was my own. The version I read may be different from the finished copy.
October 2, 2025
The title of this collection really encapsulates its nature - it is so expansive in the ground it covers, but there are also so many moments of micro-ecosystems and minituae. My fav poems were the series Novel & the Ghazals, specifically the Rico Nasty one! A very accomplished collection.
October 24, 2025
So much of it just went over my head, I get the authors vision but it felt like it got lost in between the lines. Is he really just speaking to himself through these poems or trying to convey his message?
January 12, 2026
Another day, another contemporary poetry collection that didn’t do much for me. These poems feature apocalyptic themes, fish, humor, AAPI issues, etc. There are a few good lines (there’s a particular ridiculous line about Elon Musk that made me chuckle), but overall this was a miss for me.
November 25, 2024
Short poem book that makes you think about what is written. Arc copy that I received. Thank you to w.w. Norton & company & to Steven Duong.
November 25, 2024
This is not poetry as I know it, it is more what I term as the spoken word. I read some then put it down but picked it up again.
November 30, 2024
This book has a lot of nice poems, however, my least favorite was the very first poem as it really didn't make any sense. Maybe it's me but I would love another opinion to my thoughts.
January 26, 2025
So gripping, intense, and surprising, with a really distinct arc. I love the patterning and the way the poems play off one another. Read it!
May 10, 2025
Thank you, Steven Duong, for this remarkable work!
August 20, 2025
gripped my heart truly
September 5, 2025
Excellent. A six-star worthy collection
December 21, 2025
3.5! "There are ways to get what you want / without burning the house down" (67).
November 10, 2025
Favorites in this collection were: "Ho Chi Minh City," "Ode to Playboi Carti in the Year of the Dog," "Best Case Scenario," and "Livingstonia Postcard." I loved the ghazals, as well as the Novel and Tattoo series of poems.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 31 reviews