Latitude

by Natasha Rao, Ada Limon (Introduction)

Chosen as the winner of the 2021 APR/Honickman First Book Prize by Guggenheim Fellow Ada Limón, Natasha Rao’s debut collection Latitude abounds with sensory delights, rich in colors, flavors, and sounds. These poems explore the complexities of family, cultural identity, and coming of age. By turns vulnerable and bold, Latitude indulges in desire: “In my next life let me be a tomato/lusting and unafraid,” Rao writes, “…knowing I’ll end up in an eager mouth.”

Genres: Poetry

96 pages, Hardcover

First published September 2, 2021

About the author

Natasha Rao is the author of Latitude, recipient of the 2021 APR/Honickman First Book Prize. She holds a BA from Brown University and an MFA from NYU, where she was a Goldwater Fellow. She has received support from Bread Loaf, the Vermont Studio Center, and the Martha’s Vineyard Institute of Creative Writing, and she was named a 2021 Djanikian Scholar by The Adroit Journal. Her work appears or is forthcoming in The American Poetry Review, The Nation, The Yale Review, Poetry Northwest, and elsewhere. She is currently an editor of American Chordata and lives in Brooklyn.

Reviews

[Lucy Dacus · Rating 4 out of 5]

Favorites were Divine Transformation, In my next life let me be a tomato, World View, The Truth, Confessional Poem, and OR

[el · Rating 3 out of 5]

for the most part, i found this collection to be wide-eyed and observant (of old memories and the natural world), in a way that was at first very wonderful but after 30 or 40 pages began to feel a bit formulaic. poems blurred together, with a few exceptional moments, and some suddenly lucid emotional resolve (the confessional poem about a boyfriend whose exes are all white girls stands out in my mind).

favorite poems within this: “old growth,” “divine transformation,” and “for a gray page.”

[Caitlyn · Rating 5 out of 5]

literally gorgeous

[Breogán Xague · Rating 5 out of 5]

Notas para Breo do futuro: aquí tes un poemario q é capaz de falar da relación entre sentirse incapaz de pertencer a un sitio, a nostalxia e o funcionamento da linguaxe especialmente na súa aprendizaxe. Este libro influíu o meu poemario de 2025 no q tratará a aprendizaxe da lingua galega en relación coa comprensión dos ciclos das paisaxes periféricas.

[Anneliese Luck · Rating 5 out of 5]

Lovely

[Justin · Rating 5 out of 5]

Rao writes poems that are genuinely worth reading and rereading. I wouldn’t say these poems are meant for everybody. There’s no quote that I walked away loving, and I don’t expect that in ten years’ time these poems will feel very meaningful to me, but they well capture specific feelings of love and childhood that are sure to resonate with many twenty-something year olds like me.

Though Rao often chooses form over a clear narrative or emotion, it is done fairly tastefully. Occasionally, there were poems that felt like studies of rhyme or rhythm. They weren’t my favorite, as I favor emotive vignettes over wordplay, but they helped to keep things interesting. Overall, the poems will not disappoint. I’ll keep my copy around and continue to come back to it.

Divine Transformation / Daisy / For a Blue Page are, in my opinion, her best. Her prose pieces were also strong.

Read it, if for nothing else than to be reminded of New York imagery that you might have overlooked before.

[Forrest · Rating 5 out of 5]

Latitude is a wonderful collection of poems that reads as a meditation on the poet’s lived experiences navigating the past and future, relationships and how we communicate (or fail to). The message of each piece is never so obscure that the reader fails to grasp the immediacy of the ideas or feelings being represented yet the form rewards slow contemplation and relation to other works in the collection. There is regret, inadequacy, and untetheredness but also simple and profound experiences of joy.

[Joseph · Rating 5 out of 5]

Unabashedly fierce in its commitment to feeling. I absolutely loved her vulnerability, her honesty and the incorporation of her immigrant experience in relation to her mother and father in these poems. Although a few poems border on over sentimentality— she wisely prioritizes her voice as a “Witness,” where she “climb(s) down from (her) watchtower/ and step(s) into the white lot present tense.” Praise be there still be brave poets who can tell one’s truth with subjective feeling .

[Cirilla · Rating 5 out of 5]

A stunning collection!!! I'm struck by how time works in these poems, and think Ada Limón said it best in her introduction: "how the sheer idea of the past might allow someone to keep going." There's a longing for the past, but also such a reckoning with the present and a hopefulness for the future, all layered on top of each other. Language, too, feels like music here, and the poems sound even better when read aloud. Excited to see where this poet takes us next!

[Aether · Rating 3 out of 5]

It was good and the poet had such skill with the sound of words and the way she traversed each poem was incredible- it was like a journey in just a few lines and I would go back and re-travel it to understand how it moved so quickly! Very interesting to learn from and maybe try to imitate in a writing prompt.
3 stars only because not really my type of poetry and I didn’t vibe with it as I have other poetry.

[Brittany Mishra · Rating 4 out of 5]

There are some really great poems in here. "Small Pond" was probably my favorite, but also the full sequence of "Latitude" was well crafted and a wonderful example of a sequence of prose poems. Rao plays time and the shifting of identity in the sequence with well thought out and compelling language.

A well rounded collection of poems!

[Caitlin]

Latitude is tender and sad, as much homage to that "civilization that fell" as exploration of Rao and her becoming.

My full review: https://essentiallyanerd.wordpress.co...

[isra · Rating 4 out of 5]

4.25 💫 I read a single poem by Natasha that was featured in The Adroit Journal a while back and I kid you tf not, I read that single poem of hers and was adamant on buying her collection ever since. Talent unlike we’ve seen in awhile. A fan fr.

[Sarkis Antonyan · Rating 5 out of 5]

stunning stunning stunning i was electrocuted and split open by these words. natasha’s poems are so heartfelt, innovative, honest, and interesting. i was obsessed with the imagery and rhythm laced throughout the entire collection.

[Caroline · Rating 4 out of 5]

4 stars

The first section was stronger than the rest, but overall a very cohesive yet varied collection. The poems are both accessible and complex at the same time. I especially liked the poems that leaned into less acceptable behavior and examined the speaker's flaws unabashedly.

[Thalia]

there’s a relentless hunger beneath all of these poems. the dates show a re-read; the first time i read this collection in 2023, only a few of the poems resonated, but this year i felt a connection to nearly all of them. i wanted to underline every stanza.

[Mia Sitterson · Rating 4 out of 5]

Happiness is devastating / in the past tense. / I lay these memories, like a fish, / on the cutting board.

Perhaps I am lacking in something substantial / like iron, or virtue.

Another Spring / Another failed chance to vault froglike / into a new life.

[nivedita · Rating 5 out of 5]

Tender !!!!!!

[Jenny Webb · Rating 4 out of 5]

Excellent debut collection overall; one to watch.

[Diana Marie Denza · Rating 5 out of 5]

Accessible yet gorgeous meditations on life, family, belonging, and the past. A must-read for lovers of poetry.

[Zuska · Rating 4 out of 5]

If this collection of poems contained nothing more than the poem "In my next life let me be a tomato" it would 100% be worth the purchase cost.

[Smile Jiang]

favorite poet forever and ever

[Melissa · Rating 5 out of 5]

A poem about a tomato made me cry. I loved it.

[Ellen · Rating 5 out of 5]

Amazing

[Hanwen · Rating 4 out of 5]

very nice and concise set of poems.

[retna · Rating 4 out of 5]

4.5. Stylistically versatile (but sometimes exercise-like and plain/removed), calming, clever, extremely relatable/touching for me.

[Erin · Rating 3 out of 5]

This wasnt a winner for me

[SM · Rating 4 out of 5]

An exquisite collection. Many of the lines and feelings will stay with me. Favorite poems were In my next life let me be a tomato, What It Was Like, Divine Transformation, Latitude, The Truth, Confessional Poem, and Small Pond.

[Quoth the Robyn · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book was so beautiful and truly centered itself around life and movement. I enjoyed so many of it's gorgeous images and it made me feel heard in ways that I haven't felt when reading a poetry collection.

However, the ending of the collection felt that it ran out of steam and it began to dwindle in its light. The concepts of family did shift from youth to adulthood, once poignant images of the family to emotional poems to family members. I felt the shift was a bit jarring and was confused at what created that catalyst of change, what was the shift in addition to aging?

This poetry collection is sweet and touching. While it has parts to it that I feel are unexplained, it still gripped me and comforted me. A beautiful debut.

[Kerri Anne · Rating 5 out of 5]

Annual reread of one of my favorite poetry books of all time.

Original review [from 2022]:
I've read and re-read this beautiful book of poems at least three times this year.

It's filled with magic and images that make me cry and make me cheer and make me feel altogether less alone being the woman I am here.

Can't recommend this collection enough.

[Five stars for "Diwali" alone, which is but one of a dozen poems I love in this book.]