The Boy in the Labyrinth: Poems

by Oliver de la Paz

In a long sequence of prose poems, questionnaires, and standardized tests, The Boy in the Labyrinth interrogates the language of autism and the language barriers between parents, their children, and the fractured medium of science and school. Structured as a Greek play, the book opens with a parents' earnest quest for answers, understanding, and doubt. Each section of the Three Act is highlighted by "Autism Spectrum Questionnaires" which are in dialogue with and in opposition to what the parent perceives to be their relationship with their child. Interspersed throughout each section are sequences of standardized test questions akin to those one would find in grade school, except these questions unravel into deeper mysteries. The depth of the book is told in a series of episodic prose poems that parallel the parable of Theseus and the Minotaur. In these short clips of montage the unnamed "boy" explores his world and the world of perception, all the while hearing the rumblings of the Minotaur somewhere in the heart of an immense Labyrinth. Through the medium of this allusion, de la Paz meditates on failures, foundering, and the possibility of finding one's way.

Genres: Poetry

164 pages, Paperback

First published July 30, 2019

About the author

Oliver de la Paz was born in Manila, Philippines, and raised in Ontario, Oregon. He received his MFA from Arizona State University and has taught creative writing at Arizona State University, Gettysburg College, Utica College, Western Washington University, the College of the Holy Cross, and the Low-Res MFA Program at Pacific Lutheran University. His work has appeared in journals such as Quarterly West, North American Review, Third Coast, Asian Pacific American Journal, Poetry, New England Review, Tinhouse, in the anthology Asian American Poetry: The Next Generation .and elsewhere. Names Above Houses, a book of his prose and verse, was a winner of the 2000 Crab Orchard Award Series and was published by Southern Illinois University Press in 2001. His second book,Furious Lullaby, was published in 2007 by Southern Illinois University Press. And his third book, Requiem for the Orchard won the University of Akron Prize in 2009. Additionally he authored Post Subject: A Fable and co-edited A Face to Meet the Faces: Contemporary Persona Poetry with the author Stacy Lynn Brown. His most recent book is The Boy in the Labyrinth, published by the University of Akron Press which allegorically chronicles parenting sons on the Autism Spectrum through parable, myth, and academic questionnaires.

Reviews

[Kristin · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was beautiful and eerie. Oliver de la Paz wrestles to understand the internal processing of his two autistic children through a poetic retelling of Theseus and the Minotaur. While these poems are gorgeous and descriptive and full of ambience, my favorites tended to be the brief excerpts from the Autism Screening Questionnaire and his responses, which rang most true to my own experiences. An amazing collection

[Kate Gaskin · Rating 5 out of 5]

A book-length dive into the myth of Theseus and the Minotaur, de le Paz uses the metaphor of a boy navigating an overwhelming maze to ask questions about language, experience, and neurodiversity. Throughout he uses the framing device of an autism screening questionnaire to give the book its emotional shape and structure. I appreciated the lyrical beauty of The Boy in the Labyrinth as much as the sensitivity and humanity rendered in the book's more autobiographical moments. As the mother of an autistic boy myself, I found this book to be a useful and sensitive exploration of the complexities of writing about others' lived experiences, especially when they abut your own.

[Caroline · Rating 3 out of 5]

Found the choruses stronger than the episodes.