Small Arguments

by Souvankham Thammavongsa

Reminiscent of Pablo Neruda's Elemental Odes, Small Arguments is a stunningly original debut by a gifted young poet. The language of Small Arguments is simple yet there is nothing simple in its ideas. The work touches on the structures of argument, orchestrating material around repetition, variation and contrast. Thammavongsa's approach is like that of a scientist/philosopher, delicately probing material for meaning and understanding. The poet collects small lives, and argues for a larger belonging: a grain of dirt, a crushed cockroach, the eyes of a dead dragonfly. It is a work that suggests we can create with what we know and with that alone. || "This is the voice of a pilgrim, the one who bends to see, leans to hear... Thammavongsa has distilled her meaning from her details so masterfully and with such confident wisdom that she seems to be reading nature. Through her eyes, we can believe we see the true meaning in things." - Anne Michaels"A formidable work." - George Elliot Clarke

Genres: Poetry

62 pages, Paperback

First published December 4, 2003

About the author

Souvankham Thammavongsa is the author of four poetry books, and the short story collection HOW TO PRONOUNCE KNIFE, won the 2020 Scotiabank Giller Prize and and was New York Times Editors' Choice, out now with McClelland & Stewart (Canada), Little, Brown (U.S.), and Bloomsbury (U.K.). Her stories have won an O. Henry Award and appeared in Harper's Magazine, The Paris Review, The Atlantic, Granta, NOON, Journey Prize Stories 2016, Best American Nonrequired Reading 2018, and O. Henry Prize Stories 2019. She was born in the Lao refugee camp in Nong Khai, Thailand, and was raised and educated in Toronto where she now lives.

Reviews

[Alan (The Lone Librarian) Teder · Rating 4 out of 5]

From Small Things (Big Things One Day Come)
Review of the Pedlar Press paperback edition (2003)

By random chance i had actually picked up Souvankham Thammavongsa's first book of published poems back in 2003 when Pedlar Press put out a facsimile edition to recreate the poet's earlier handmade chapbooks. With Thammavongsa's recent win of Canada's top literary prize the Giller Award for How to Pronounce Knife (2020), it seemed like a good time to revisit her early work.

Just as How to... celebrates simple people and work, Small Arguments celebrates simple items and living things such as fruit and insects. Rereading it now after many years i realize that all of the objects can also act as metaphors for people as well. Still a lovely simple collection to think about and ponder.

Mwpn's review provides several examples of the poems, including replications of their spacing on the page.

My review of How to Pronounce Knife is here.

[Ian M. Pyatt · Rating 5 out of 5]

A very interesting take on numerous seemingly insignificant every day objects.

I thought the ones describing various items of food were the best.

[Steph Percival · Rating 5 out of 5]

Loved this collection but I wanted more!

[M.W.P.M. · Rating 5 out of 5]

Small Arguments is dedicated "To my parents for knowing the weight of how much". The meaning of this dedication is later illuminated by the poem "The Weight of Salt"...

There are no measuring cups to mark
how much is enough

no scales
to balance the weight one holds


There is only salt in
an open hand

an open hand
that knows the weight of how much
- The Weight of Salt, pg. 15

The poems that interested me the most were the poems that took a line from another poem as their starting point...

Water will never lie to you...

- Gwendolyn MacEwen, "Water"

WATER

will lie to you,

make you believe

this

unmarked end

isn't deep

- until you go in

without enough air

to find your way back

It breaks light

before light knows

where it is

- Water, pg. 16

*

in an anguished moment
a narrow silent throat
where one by one, pulsing and shining,
the unbodied elements pass

- A. F. Moritz, "A Narrow Silent Throat"

THE GRAPEFRUIT (A REMIX)

shrunk

from the reach of light

"in an anguished moment"

It hardens

into a black shrivel

where its language

unbranches

into "a narrow silent throat"

- from The Grapefruit (A Remix), pg. 31

My favourite poem in the collection...

A GRASSHOPPER

leaps

into heaven,

asking

for a place

At every leap, heaven

turns it away

places it

back into this field

its small body

worn down and beaten,

clotted and covered

with so much earth,

poised

to ask again

- A Grasshopper, pg. 42

[Carolyn Bell · Rating 3 out of 5]

“Small Arguments”, “Light” & “Found” by Souvankham Thammavongsa @souvankhamthammavongsa Three short poetry books originally published in 2003, 2007 and 2013 and now released as audio books. Short poems on numerous subjects.
A great accompaniment to sailing the Salish Sea today !
Thanks to @librofm @talismanonpender @mcclellandstewart for the #ALCs

[Chris Hutchinson · Rating 5 out of 5]

The number of angels that can dance on the head of a pin is insignificant compared to the
multitudes contained within Souvankham Thammavongsa’s minimalist, lapidary
poems.

[Dylan Tweney · Rating 5 out of 5]

Remarkable small poems about ordinary things, but with not so subtle echoes and resonances of what must be an intense personal life behind each object.

[Anne Larsen · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book was filled with simple yet meaningful poems. Very original thoughtful reflections.

[crista · Rating 5 out of 5]

the taste that arrives
before reaching mouth,

[Rhiley · Rating 4 out of 5]

4.5 stars

[Kier Scrivener · Rating 2 out of 5]

Who knew the weight of gravity that always won

[Andrew · Rating 5 out of 5]

Souvankham Thammavongsa's "Small Arguments" is an absolutely enthralling collection of poems. They show the true beauty that the small things of the world can hold to a careful observer. Fruit and insects are the main subjects of her poems, and yet each one contains much insight and wisdom. There are some truly beautiful words contained within Thammavongsa's "Small Arguments" that must be read! Highly recommended.

[Beth Follett · Rating 5 out of 5]

Winner of the 2004 ReLit Award for Poetry.