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Honorifics
Cynthia Miller’s debut poetry collection, Honorifics, is an astonishing, adventurous, and innovative exploration of family, Malaysian - Chinese cultural identity, and immigration. From jellyfish blooms to glitch art and distant stars, taking in Greek gods, space shuttles and wedding china along the way, Miller’s mesmerizing approach is experimental, luscious, and expansive with longing
Here, the poetry is interwoven with the words for all the things we honour – our loved ones and our ancestors, home and homecomings, and all that is precious and makes us feel that we belong and are beloved. It is also a book that examines contemporary issues of migration in sharp and enquiring relief. Language itself becomes a radical power for reimaging, challenging, and making change, and Miller’s distinctive and multifaceted poetry creates an extraordinary space for multiplicity and celebration.
Here, the poetry is interwoven with the words for all the things we honour – our loved ones and our ancestors, home and homecomings, and all that is precious and makes us feel that we belong and are beloved. It is also a book that examines contemporary issues of migration in sharp and enquiring relief. Language itself becomes a radical power for reimaging, challenging, and making change, and Miller’s distinctive and multifaceted poetry creates an extraordinary space for multiplicity and celebration.
- GenresPoetry
72 pages, Paperback
First published June 24, 2021
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Displaying 1 - 23 of 23 reviews
August 11, 2021
extremely lovely and hard to read at times because I found some of these poems so relatable!
April 12, 2022
(4.5) Miller is a Malaysian American poet currently living in Edinburgh. Honorifics was also shortlisted for the Forward Prize for Best First Collection. Its themes resonate with poetry I’ve read by other Asian women like Romalyn Ante and Jenny Xie and with the works of mixed-race authors such as Jessica J. Lee and Nina Mingya Powles: living between two or more countries and feeling like an exile versus finding a sense of home.
“Loving v. Virginia” celebrates interracial love: “Look at us, improper. Look at us, indecent. Look at us, incandescent and loving.” Food is a vehicle for memory, as are home videos. Like Ante, Miller has a poem based on her mother’s voicemail messages. “Glitch honorifics” gives the characters for different family relationships, comparing Chinese and Hokkien. The imagery is full of colour and light, plants and paintings. A terrific central section called “Bloom” contains 10 jellyfish poems (“We bloom like nuclear hydrangea … I’m an unwound chandelier, / a 150-foot-long coil of cilia, // made up of a million gelatinous foxgloves.”).
Miller incorporates a lot of unusual structures, some of them traditional forms (“Sonnet with lighthouses,” “Moon goddess ghazal,” “Persimmon abecedarian”) and others freer forms like a numbered list, columns, dictionary definitions or prose paragraphs. Six of the poems cite an inspiration; I could particularly see the influence in “The Home Office after Caroline Bird” – an absurdist take on government immigration policy.
There’s much variety here, and so many beautiful lines and evocative images. “Malaysiana,” a tour through everything she loves about the country of her birth, was my single favourite poem, and a couple more passages I loved were “the heart measuring breaths like levelling sugar / for a batter, the heart saying / why don’t you come in from the cold.” (from “The impossible physiology of the free diver”) and the last two stanzas of “Lupins”: “Some days / their purple spines // are the only things / holding me up.” Flora and fauna references plus a consideration of the expat life meant this was custom made for me, but I’d recommend it to anyone looking to try out different styles of contemporary poetry.
Originally published on my blog, Bookish Beck.
Nightly, you rosary American synonyms for success learned the hard way: suburb – 10-year visa – promotion – carpool – mortgage – parent-teacher conference – nuclear family – assimilation … Homecoming is the last, hardest thing you’ll ask yourself to do.
(from “Homecoming”)
“Loving v. Virginia” celebrates interracial love: “Look at us, improper. Look at us, indecent. Look at us, incandescent and loving.” Food is a vehicle for memory, as are home videos. Like Ante, Miller has a poem based on her mother’s voicemail messages. “Glitch honorifics” gives the characters for different family relationships, comparing Chinese and Hokkien. The imagery is full of colour and light, plants and paintings. A terrific central section called “Bloom” contains 10 jellyfish poems (“We bloom like nuclear hydrangea … I’m an unwound chandelier, / a 150-foot-long coil of cilia, // made up of a million gelatinous foxgloves.”).
Miller incorporates a lot of unusual structures, some of them traditional forms (“Sonnet with lighthouses,” “Moon goddess ghazal,” “Persimmon abecedarian”) and others freer forms like a numbered list, columns, dictionary definitions or prose paragraphs. Six of the poems cite an inspiration; I could particularly see the influence in “The Home Office after Caroline Bird” – an absurdist take on government immigration policy.
There’s much variety here, and so many beautiful lines and evocative images. “Malaysiana,” a tour through everything she loves about the country of her birth, was my single favourite poem, and a couple more passages I loved were “the heart measuring breaths like levelling sugar / for a batter, the heart saying / why don’t you come in from the cold.” (from “The impossible physiology of the free diver”) and the last two stanzas of “Lupins”: “Some days / their purple spines // are the only things / holding me up.” Flora and fauna references plus a consideration of the expat life meant this was custom made for me, but I’d recommend it to anyone looking to try out different styles of contemporary poetry.
Originally published on my blog, Bookish Beck.
August 27, 2022
I really enjoyed this expansive, imaginative collection about migration, love, home, and what we learn from water and the ocean. In experimental and sensually-rich poems, Miller explores her Malaysian heritage, her family history, and moving between multiple cultures. She's also very interested in water -- one of my favourite pieces in this book is a sequence, Bloom, about jellyfish, which captures oceans full of jellyfish, jellyfish travelling through space, and jellyfish as a metaphor for the mistreatment of refugees. She also writes about swimming, being under water, and different ways of understanding salt water. Another surprising poem is "Proxima B", which is a long thought experiment, looking at what it would mean to love someone on a different planet, and the ways light travels through space. She's also not afraid to experiment: the poem "Glitch honorifics" flows across the page like a family tree, in a series of boxes, as she looks at untranslatable words. I also really admired her more formal poems: I usually find ghazals disappointing, but Miller's "Moon goddess ghazal" was a real stand-out piece for me, cleverly using a restrictive form to write an expansive poem. Another favourite was "Persimmon abcedarian", which captures the beauty of persimmons, mothers as migrants, and trying to celebrate the Chinese new year in a tiny British flat. Miller's voice is memorable and compelling, and she's definitely a poet to watch.
October 16, 2021
Honorifics is Cynthia Miller's first collection of poems. It's a wonderful collection. I enjoyed it a lot. In her acknowledgement's Miller says: "All my love to my family - Mom, Dad, Ashley, as well as extended family in Malaysia and Minnesota - who are the beating heart of this book." And that's true.
This collection explores identity through family and family experience (although that is not the only thing the collection explores, which I'll come to later.)
A lot of recent poetry I've read talks about the issues of identity for second - or more - generations of immigrants. Of how to balance the competing identities of the country you live in and the cultural you come from. In Miller's case an extra complication has been added by the fact that she now lives in Britain. One of the poems in this collection 'The Home Office' is both a brilliant poem and a perfect polemic against the mindset of the Home Office. It ends with words from Theresa May, from when she was Home Secretary. As someone who would like the Home Office re-built from the ground up this poem really hit home.
Not everything is about family. There's a lovely suite of poems about jelly fish. Indeed, water features a lot in this collection. On a very personal note in "The impossible physiology of the free diver" there's a section of the poem when she talks about sitting on the bottom of a swimming pool to see how long she can hold her breath, which reminded me of when I found myself sitting patiently on the floor of a Spanish hotel swimming pool after having fallen in. I couldn't swim so I was basically waiting to drown. My Dad rescued me. But there was something about that meditational waiting that Miller catches:
"I was a little god on the floor
of the world looking up." (p64)
Another thing that comes up a lot in this collection is food both as a cultural signifier and as a memory hook. One of my favourite poems in the collection, "Persimmon abecedarian", is the perfect example. The fruit is a seed to grow a poem that is about family, immigration, love and cooking:
"...This is my
personal definition of luminous, a
quiet moment in the kitchen, my mother chiding me
Remember to call home from time to time." (p71)
Miller also plays with the topography of the page. There are interestingly laid out poems. Some look like blocks of prose, some are split to reflect different time lines. It all helps make for an excellent collection. There are lines and poems that have burrowed their way into me. My copy is full of underlining and notes.
I could go on for ages. If you haven't worked it out already I like this collection a lot. In fact, I may have said that right at the beginning. I will definitely read it again. I look digging more out of it on every read.
I'll end with a little bit of Miller's poetry. Just a couple of lines from the five part poem "Portmeirion".
"My body takes on sadness the way lily pollen stains everything,
Accidentally, gently, permanently." (p17)
This collection explores identity through family and family experience (although that is not the only thing the collection explores, which I'll come to later.)
A lot of recent poetry I've read talks about the issues of identity for second - or more - generations of immigrants. Of how to balance the competing identities of the country you live in and the cultural you come from. In Miller's case an extra complication has been added by the fact that she now lives in Britain. One of the poems in this collection 'The Home Office' is both a brilliant poem and a perfect polemic against the mindset of the Home Office. It ends with words from Theresa May, from when she was Home Secretary. As someone who would like the Home Office re-built from the ground up this poem really hit home.
Not everything is about family. There's a lovely suite of poems about jelly fish. Indeed, water features a lot in this collection. On a very personal note in "The impossible physiology of the free diver" there's a section of the poem when she talks about sitting on the bottom of a swimming pool to see how long she can hold her breath, which reminded me of when I found myself sitting patiently on the floor of a Spanish hotel swimming pool after having fallen in. I couldn't swim so I was basically waiting to drown. My Dad rescued me. But there was something about that meditational waiting that Miller catches:
"I was a little god on the floor
of the world looking up." (p64)
Another thing that comes up a lot in this collection is food both as a cultural signifier and as a memory hook. One of my favourite poems in the collection, "Persimmon abecedarian", is the perfect example. The fruit is a seed to grow a poem that is about family, immigration, love and cooking:
"...This is my
personal definition of luminous, a
quiet moment in the kitchen, my mother chiding me
Remember to call home from time to time." (p71)
Miller also plays with the topography of the page. There are interestingly laid out poems. Some look like blocks of prose, some are split to reflect different time lines. It all helps make for an excellent collection. There are lines and poems that have burrowed their way into me. My copy is full of underlining and notes.
I could go on for ages. If you haven't worked it out already I like this collection a lot. In fact, I may have said that right at the beginning. I will definitely read it again. I look digging more out of it on every read.
I'll end with a little bit of Miller's poetry. Just a couple of lines from the five part poem "Portmeirion".
"My body takes on sadness the way lily pollen stains everything,
Accidentally, gently, permanently." (p17)
July 29, 2021
It's likely I am a little biased since I went to high school with Cynthia Miller, but even if I didn't know her, I would have really enjoyed this poetry collection. It feels fresh, deeply personal, and brings out a lot of emotion for me. The cover is stunning and matches well with the lush imagery, especially the descriptions of Malaysia and the references to tropical fruit and flowers. I thought it was fitting that I read this right after reading Michiko Kaku's "the God Equation" because she includes general relativity as a theme in many of her poems in this book. I felt like I was time-traveling as well as traveling the globe as I was reading it. I was blown away by her execution and the many different forms she used, some of which I have never seen before, such as the structure for "Homecoming." She manages to take a lot of disparate subjects and put them together in a way that feels cohesive; she goes from jellyfish in space to Loving vs. Virginia with ease, and her confidence radiates from the page. This book deserves all the recognition it is getting and I really enjoyed the chance to read it.
October 24, 2023
I really enjoyed this! It reminds me of the last collection I read because they explored a lot of similar themes (childhood, culture, culture clash, family, nostalgia, belonging) but they approached them differently.
I enjoyed her different forms she experimented with. The family tree looking one is very cool. Her way with words and language is very cool and I loved reading all the poems.
I found the middle section a little confusing in that it was separated from the first part by a title but then flowed straight into the third part without any acknowledgement. I liked the poems about jellyfish though!!
My favourites are: Homecoming, Glitch honorifics, To become a dragon first wear its skin, If given a choice my boyfriend wants to be immortal, Abridged dictionary for water babies, and Persimmon abecedarian.
I enjoyed her different forms she experimented with. The family tree looking one is very cool. Her way with words and language is very cool and I loved reading all the poems.
I found the middle section a little confusing in that it was separated from the first part by a title but then flowed straight into the third part without any acknowledgement. I liked the poems about jellyfish though!!
My favourites are: Homecoming, Glitch honorifics, To become a dragon first wear its skin, If given a choice my boyfriend wants to be immortal, Abridged dictionary for water babies, and Persimmon abecedarian.
June 19, 2023
Haven’t read a single poetry book this year and I drank this in and it’s so delicious. So much on family, heritage, culture, water, language, food, space, JELLYFISHES. Jellyfish poem is my new fav poetry genre
August 11, 2022
I enjoyed the whole collection but I think the alphabet poem Persimmon abecedarian was what made this a solid 5 star for me as it does not rely on it being an alphabet to work.
April 17, 2022
I didn't exactly mean to read this all in one go but I'm also not mad about it. And now I need to buy myself a physical copy to mark up
January 18, 2025
“My fear is a collapsing star / eating all light. / The cup is still in the / cupboard, untouched.” Honorifics, the debut collection of poems by Cynthia Miller, offers up a gorgeous array of poems on identity, family, migration, and our relationship with the natural world. Miller has as natural a knack for neat, striking phrases as she does for structurally impressive poems, poems where not a single line or word is less than necessary, deliberate — like that critical point in Jenga where pulling out any brick in the tower would bring the whole thing down. Her sense of rhythm and motion — the rolling nature of her conceits and constructions — is as restorative as it is awakening: “love, eat up / eat up love / what a pity / such a shame to waste love / love, how much we’ve wasted”. There are two very clear 2020 poems in the collection, ‘Social distancing’ and ‘Eurydice video calls her lover in lockdown’, the latter of which is one of the best poems I’ve read all year, a beautiful gut-punch: “I’m not sure what I want more: certainty, / or to finally set down this longing.” Honorifics is like one of the rare albums that’s no-skips, wall-to-wall-hits, but there are some standouts: ‘If given a choice, my boyfriend wants to be immortal’, ‘Sonnet with lighthouses’, and, unforgettable, ‘Judith & the head of Holofernes’. With personal poems about family and memory like ‘Shell game’, and such incendiary political poems as ‘The Home Office’, Miller has every base covered.
November 15, 2022
Shell game
4.
Sometimes the timelines blur, merge a little so I can’t remember to which a particular moment
belongs. It’s a shell game of memories. I can’t remember if this is the reality where my parents
married under a moon arch, where Grandpa lived or died, where we forgot to stay in touch,
where we came back to –––– every Christmas and decorated sugar cookies and watched Home
Alone, where we went to midnight mass, where –––– made a habit of scaring ––––’s college
boyfriends silly, where for a few weeks –––– backpacked through Europe and fell in love out
there. I can’t remember if this is the timeline where –––– became an immigration lawyer or
––– took the Fulbright scholarship. Where Grandma always remembered to end the phone call
with remember you are loved even as she remembered nothing else. I can’t remember if all of us
– my sister, my dad, his sister – ever sat this close, if we ever talked about anything important
at all. I can’t remember but it feels inevitable: us skipping through each quickening frame like
we knew what was coming and wouldn’t change a thing.
4.
Sometimes the timelines blur, merge a little so I can’t remember to which a particular moment
belongs. It’s a shell game of memories. I can’t remember if this is the reality where my parents
married under a moon arch, where Grandpa lived or died, where we forgot to stay in touch,
where we came back to –––– every Christmas and decorated sugar cookies and watched Home
Alone, where we went to midnight mass, where –––– made a habit of scaring ––––’s college
boyfriends silly, where for a few weeks –––– backpacked through Europe and fell in love out
there. I can’t remember if this is the timeline where –––– became an immigration lawyer or
––– took the Fulbright scholarship. Where Grandma always remembered to end the phone call
with remember you are loved even as she remembered nothing else. I can’t remember if all of us
– my sister, my dad, his sister – ever sat this close, if we ever talked about anything important
at all. I can’t remember but it feels inevitable: us skipping through each quickening frame like
we knew what was coming and wouldn’t change a thing.
January 18, 2023
For a collection I knew nothing about and took a punt on this was an unexpected delight. The first half of the book seemed to contain more poems that interested and spoke to me and there isnt perhaps a single poem that I loved so much to single out and read and re-read again and again as can often happen with poetry collections but I really enjoyed it and will revisit the collection quite a bit through the year.
There are signs of this being maybe a first collection with a lack of standardness of style and approach but in someways that might just be the experimental and explorative nature of the poet.
There are signs of this being maybe a first collection with a lack of standardness of style and approach but in someways that might just be the experimental and explorative nature of the poet.
July 6, 2022
'Only the best and brightest jellyfish are allowed in our waters, the government announced at the launch of the joint Jellyfish Immigration and Economic Strategy. Without heart, brains or blood, the Home Secretary said, these invasive species do not contribute as much to the system as they take out. Exemptions will be granted in exceptional circumstances: jellyfish willing to be pulped for agricultural fertiliser to help farmers feed the nation can fast-track their visa applications. NO RECOURSE TO PUBLIC FUNDS will be stamped in squid ink on every tentacle.'
([spineless menace], p36)
([spineless menace], p36)
April 15, 2024
This was a really mixture for me, unfortunately very few of the poems were amazing 5 stars, however there were a good bunch that I liked parts of, but the main reason this can only be 3 stars for me is because so many of the poems did not work for me at all but also didn't make me feel or think anything which is what I expect from poetry.
The poems I absolutely loved and hope to revisit again in the future were -
- Portmeirion
- Proxima b
- Glitch Honorifics
The poems I absolutely loved and hope to revisit again in the future were -
- Portmeirion
- Proxima b
- Glitch Honorifics
August 31, 2022
' I want to drive through fields crammed with sunflowers in a French convertible and red lipstick and feel sexy and sun-warmed and so turned on by your right hand on the gearshift I'm a swarm of summer cicadas, crawling out of my skin.'
From ' If given a choice, my boyfriend wants to be immortal. '
From ' If given a choice, my boyfriend wants to be immortal. '
July 1, 2023
the first section was really strong but i felt the collection lost its way as we got further through. so many topics were covered it became a bit much to read.
the imagery was beautiful and powerful. the experimental forms of some of the poems were interesting to read.
the imagery was beautiful and powerful. the experimental forms of some of the poems were interesting to read.
August 3, 2023
This book was such a joy to read. It is full of wonder, delight, humour and care for family and for the sea, especially jellyfish. I loved how vivid and visual the images are. I loved the way Miller uses form for many of the poems, turning it into a chance for play.
February 2, 2022
Two that stays the most in me are: Social Distancing and Persimmon Abecedarian.
March 30, 2022
Some of these poems hit little rivulets but please please read the section on jellyfish. Jellyfish. In space!
July 19, 2022
'What's a liar to a storyteller."
I will think about this exquisite line for quite some time.
I will think about this exquisite line for quite some time.
October 26, 2022
3.75⭐️
November 13, 2022
“Calling me unearthly
shows how small your
world is.”
shows how small your
world is.”
February 22, 2022
This is an incredibly diverse collection that keeps drawing me back in to reread individual poems. Beautifully crafted and challenging, it's just a gorgeous read.
Displaying 1 - 23 of 23 reviews