100 Chinese Silences

by Timothy Yu

Poetry. Asian & Asian American Studies. LGBT Studies. Selected as the editor's selection in the 2014 NOS Book Contest. There are one hundred kinds of Chinese silence: the silence of unknown grandfathers; the silence of borrowed Buddha and rebranded Confucius; the silence of alluring stereotypes and exotic reticence. These poems make those silences heard. Writing back to an orientalist tradition that has defined modern American poetry, these 100 Chinese silences unmask the imagined Asias of American literature, revealing the spectral Asian presence that haunts our most eloquent lyrics and self- satisfied wisdom. Rewriting poets from Ezra Pound and Marianne Moore to Gary Snyder and Billy Collins, this book is a sharply critical and wickedly humorous travesty of the modern canon, excavating the Asian (American) bones buried in our poetic language. "Timothy Yu's first book of poems, 100 CHINESE SILENCES, brims with sharp, angry, sarcastic and tender poems. He delivers dazzling lines with the deadpan wit and precise timing of Buster Keaton, the stone-faced master of silence. In fact, I had not realized until now and I mean NOW that Keaton is really the Timothy Yu of silent films, while Yu is Yu, a slayer of dragons, who knows the millions of sinister and inscrutable ways the Chinese have been silenced in blockbuster films, best-selling novels, Broadway musicals and award-winning poems read on NPR, and closely scrutinized in graduate classes and parking lots of Asian fusion take-out joints with funny names. Not only does Yu make Ezra Pound and Gary Snyder stand on their pointy heads in ways that are illuminating and funny, but he also skewers Jeb Bush, Billy Collins, Mary Oliver, Marianne Moore, and Eliot Weinberger right through their bright yellow Chinese hearts. You got to love a poet who can do that and never miss his mark. I present you with Timothy Yu, noble Chinese archer and master poet." John Yau "In Timothy Yu's hall of 100 "Chinese" poetic mirrors, puppies, blossoms, and hobbled feet clatter against the American grain, leaving wet prints as frowning emoji ciphers to rise up with a mighty bitch slap for Asian/American difference. These poems burn with gloriously wry disdain at the abundance of chinoiserie tinging modernist lineages of geopolitically "western" poetic traditions. By striking out at un-self-conscious performances of western cultural sophistication, Yu exposes these voices' indebtedness to emptied "Chinese" images. I pleasure in his poetry's mythic "10th century crystal penis," how it penetrates western imaginative impotencies to see otherwise. He's sharp, incisive, potty- mouthed, unapologetic, slippery, angry, urbane... His silences are fearsome and knowing. Fuck that yellow-faced hologram of Confucius! I want to hear what Timothy Yu has to say!" Sueyeun Juliette Lee "I can't remember when I last read a book as necessary, and as wickedly fun, as Timothy Yu's 100 CHINESE SILENCES. Yu responds to, rewrites, and reforms a whole poetic tradition of Western representations of China and the Chinese, from Ezra Pound to Gary Snyder to Billy Collins. Yu wears his learning lightly, and his various parodies, pastiches, and campy retakes on the poetic tradition balance a love of the poetry he's spent a career studying with a necessary critical edge. Our age demands a re- assessment of old representations of the "mysterious east," and Timothy Yu has come through with exactly what we need. 100 CHINESE SILENCES has "breakthrough book" written all over it." Robert Archambeau"

Genres: Poetry, School

135 pages, Paperback

Published May 24, 2016

Reviews

[Yuri Solenois · Rating 5 out of 5]

"100 Chinese Silences" by Timothy Yu is a remarkable collection of poetry that explores the intersection of race, identity, and representation in contemporary American culture. The title of the book refers to the 100 poems by famous poets that Yu uses as source material for his own poems, which are then used to reflect on the silencing of Chinese voices in American culture.

Yu's writing is both elegant and challenging, and his poems are characterized by their powerful imagery and their use of repetition and variation. The poems are also deeply personal, and Yu uses his own experiences and observations to highlight the ways in which Asian American voices are often silenced or marginalized in American culture.

One of the most impressive features of "100 Chinese Silences" is Yu's ability to weave together historical and cultural themes with personal reflection and poetic experimentation. The result is a collection that is both intellectually stimulating and emotionally resonant, and that offers a powerful critique of the ways in which Asian Americans are often stereotyped or ignored in American culture.

The collection is divided into four sections, each of which explores a different aspect of the Chinese American experience. The first section, "Two Chinese Silences," is a series of poems that explore the silencing of Chinese voices in American culture. The second section, "Chinese Silence," focuses on the experiences of Chinese immigrants in America, while the third section, "I Have No Silences," is a powerful reflection on the ways in which Asian American voices can be amplified and celebrated.

Overall, "100 Chinese Silences" is a remarkable achievement, a collection of poetry that is both intellectually stimulating and emotionally resonant. Yu's writing is both challenging and accessible, and his use of intertextuality is highly effective in creating a sense of depth and complexity. This is a must-read for anyone who is interested in poetry that is deeply engaged with the cultural and social issues of our time.

[Paul · Rating 5 out of 5]

Timothy Yu's meta-poems in 100 Chinese Silences go get meta-delicious by taking downtown perilous misrepresentations of Asian and Chinese culture in American modernist and contemporary poetry. Laugh out loud by way of emoji frown.

Here's a short sample:

"Often I run out of ideas / for poems and the metaphors they're made of--clichés, dull / clichés everywhere-- / but then I remember I am American / and so can end my poem with something Chinese / and call it original, like that / ancient American railroad / built miraculously by silent hands, / helping me drive my golden spike home." ("Chinese Silence No. 35, p. 53)

[Becky Robison · Rating 5 out of 5]

Not sure I’ve ever read a book of poetry that could be described as “scathing” before, but this one is definitely scathing. The collection is Yu’s response to the myriad famous white poets—Ezra Pound, Billy Collins, Gary Snyder—who write “Chinese” poetry as if they own it. Yu’s poems are all written “after” these poets; by re-writing their poems and amplifying the Asian stereotypes they lean on, he simply skewers them. And he doesn’t let up. It’s literally 100 poems aiming to do only that. I liked this book, the anger and the confidence in it.

Please note that I originally published this review on my blog.

[Warren Tutwiler · Rating 1 out of 5]

This seems to be a critique and response to prior poets, particularly one named Billy Collins, who either translated or wrote poems about Asian culture. But I am not familiar with the prior poets, so I could only get a vague idea of the intent. The poems themselves are okay, but since I cannot understand what the author's point is, I was left mostly confused, even to the point of being unable to fathom what he means by "silence." I quit reading after No. 26. Perhaps a preface would have helped.