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Tortured Willows: Bent. Bowed. Unbroken.
The willow is femininity, desire, death. Rebirth. With its ability to grow from a single broken branch, it is the living embodiment of immortality. It is the yin that wards off malevolent spirits. It is both revered and shunned. In Tortured Willows, four Southeast Asian women writers of horror expand on the exploration of otherness begun with the Bram Stoker Award-winning anthology Black Cranes: Tales of Unquiet Women.
Like the willow, women have bent and bowed under the expectations and duty heaped upon them. Like the willow, they endure and refuse to break.
With exquisite poetry, Christina Sng, Angela Yuriko Smith, Lee Murray, and Geneve Flynn invite you to sit beneath the tortured willow's gravid branches and listen to the uneasy shiver of its leaves.
Like the willow, women have bent and bowed under the expectations and duty heaped upon them. Like the willow, they endure and refuse to break.
With exquisite poetry, Christina Sng, Angela Yuriko Smith, Lee Murray, and Geneve Flynn invite you to sit beneath the tortured willow's gravid branches and listen to the uneasy shiver of its leaves.
144 pages, Paperback
Published October 7, 2021
5 people are currently reading
178 people want to read
About the author
Angela Yuriko Smith
145 books111 followersAngela Yuriko Smith, HWA president and Space and Time publisher, is a two-time Bram Stoker Award winner. As a Publishing Coach, she helps writers search less and submit more with her weekly calendar of author opportunities at authortunities.substack.com.
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Displaying 1 - 24 of 24 reviews
June 1, 2023
Tortured Willows is a powerful collection of poetry from four Southeast Asian women writers: Lee Murray, Geneve Flynn, Christina Sng, and Angela Yuriko Smith. Each of them is immensely talented.
The poems herein are emotional, and I found myself tearing up at many of these accounts of otherness and of everyday horror. Eye-opening, to say the least... and beautifully written. I cannot begin to describe how haunting some of these poems are, and how horrified I am by the treatment of Southeast Asian women over the years. I also found it to be educational; for example, I never knew that Okinawa was once an independent country, and that there are still some tensions between Okinawans and Japan (as well as the U.S.) as a result of how history played out.
But, there is also an underlying tone of hope. Despite the darkness of the poetry, the overall theme is that these women, these self-proclaimed willows, can be bent but do not break. And that resonates strongly within their words.
Another thing I really loved about this collection is that (with some exceptions), there was a blurb after each poem in which the poet might discuss the inspiration behind the piece, or their own interpretation of it, or a related anecdote, etc. I found it helpful to first read each poem, then read the blurb, then go back and re-read the poem with the author's words fresh in my mind.
Truly an enriching collection, and highly recommended.
The poems herein are emotional, and I found myself tearing up at many of these accounts of otherness and of everyday horror. Eye-opening, to say the least... and beautifully written. I cannot begin to describe how haunting some of these poems are, and how horrified I am by the treatment of Southeast Asian women over the years. I also found it to be educational; for example, I never knew that Okinawa was once an independent country, and that there are still some tensions between Okinawans and Japan (as well as the U.S.) as a result of how history played out.
But, there is also an underlying tone of hope. Despite the darkness of the poetry, the overall theme is that these women, these self-proclaimed willows, can be bent but do not break. And that resonates strongly within their words.
Another thing I really loved about this collection is that (with some exceptions), there was a blurb after each poem in which the poet might discuss the inspiration behind the piece, or their own interpretation of it, or a related anecdote, etc. I found it helpful to first read each poem, then read the blurb, then go back and re-read the poem with the author's words fresh in my mind.
Truly an enriching collection, and highly recommended.
September 26, 2021
Stunning, heartbreaking, and everything you could possibly want from this all-star cast of writers/poets. The strongest poetry collection I've read this year, and I loved it with my whole being. Poignant verses, reflective information about the pieces, and a great example of how to create a collaborated collection.
October 22, 2021
** Edited as review is now live on Kendall Reviews! **
Huge thanks to Lee Murray for sending me an early review copy of this outstanding anthology of poems. This was a really hard group of tales to read, but the pain that resonated through every single one showed just how much writing these poems meant to the four amazing authors within.
What I liked: The anthology has a theme throughout, but one thing I loved was how each poem did have some room for interpretation. As a white male reading these poems, I was able to relate to them through shared experiences from women in my life, which definitely increased the emotional wallop I felt while reading these.
The anthology opens with a foreword by K.P. Kulski. This was a fantastic look at how personally moving these poems were and did a great job of sharing a bit about her heritage and why these poems connected so deeply.
Due to the volume of poems within, I’ll showcase a number of poems from each author that really resonated with me.
Lee Murray
WILLOWS – The fantastic opening poem that Lee shares was very autobiographical. Loved the story this one told.
FOX GIRL – I really liked the imagery of this poem and the flow of it while reading. It was a great poem that really painted a picture while acting as a subtle metaphor.
EXQUISITE – A favourite of Lee’s. Just dark descriptions and visceral emotions showcased. So well done.
AT THE BAR – Such a dark, brutal poem told over eight lines that tackles stereotypes, racism, sexism and has a cathartic vengeance to it.
Geneve Flynn
WHEN THE GIRLS BEGAN TO FALL – No words. Just a brutal dark poem that can be taken a number of ways. For me, personally, it felt very dystopian and apocalyptic in nature. Outstanding.
ABRIDGE – A heartbreakingly aching blackout poem that addresses violence against women. Poems like these are hard to read, but even harder knowing just how frequent this violence occurs.
INHERITANCE – A poem looking at the reality many women face where they’re held back and discouraged simply because of their gender
WHAT THE MIRROR SHOWED ME – This poem was beautiful, if not difficult to read. It will definitely affect each reader differently, especially those who have dealt with self-esteem/body issues.
STAY DOWN – Interesting poem that could be about a zombie or even a demon-type creature. Such a simple poem but so much story was shared within those few sparse lines.
Christina Sng
CONVERSATIONS WITH THE DEAD 1928 – Just a sad, sad poem about a woman looking back at her life and the choices she never made that led to her demise. This one is a real tearjerker.
I LEFT TOO LATE – A very dark, sad poem looking back at what could’ve been.
WILLOW – Another sad poem in a very similar vein to ‘I Left Too Late.’ Hard, hard poems to read.
AN INTERLUDE WITH THE BOARDING HOUSE OWNER – A deliciously evil poem that gives us a novel’s length of story in fifteen lines. Amazing.
FLAT – A dark, ghost-story poem that shares the flat-faced woman tale. This one was creepy from start to finish.
Angela Yuriko Smith
FOUR WILLOWS BOUND – Almost reads like a battle-cry between the four authors. A poem saying ‘we’ve all been through hard times, but together, by each other’s sides, we’re stronger because of it.’ Really moving.
HER HAJICHI – A fascinating poem about a traditional tattoo. This was great.
KIJIMUNA – A really creepy poem about someone seeing wood sprites and knowing they want to take them away.
THE NUKEKUBI – A ghostly poem based on a real experience the author had. This elevated the creepiness factor even more, and that’s saying something.
What I didn’t like: With a large number of poems within, some will be hit or miss to each reader, but saying that, even the ones that didn’t catch me like the others, the sorrow within the words absolutely did.
Why you should buy this: The four authors here are masters of dark fiction and have crafted some of the darkest, bleakest, most emotional poems I’ve ever read. Time and time again these poems created a look into certain situations that were so hard to read but so well written that it’ll leave you sobbing and struggling to move on to the next poem. But you’ll want to read the next one. And the next one.
Just so, so good.
Huge thanks to Lee Murray for sending me an early review copy of this outstanding anthology of poems. This was a really hard group of tales to read, but the pain that resonated through every single one showed just how much writing these poems meant to the four amazing authors within.
What I liked: The anthology has a theme throughout, but one thing I loved was how each poem did have some room for interpretation. As a white male reading these poems, I was able to relate to them through shared experiences from women in my life, which definitely increased the emotional wallop I felt while reading these.
The anthology opens with a foreword by K.P. Kulski. This was a fantastic look at how personally moving these poems were and did a great job of sharing a bit about her heritage and why these poems connected so deeply.
Due to the volume of poems within, I’ll showcase a number of poems from each author that really resonated with me.
Lee Murray
WILLOWS – The fantastic opening poem that Lee shares was very autobiographical. Loved the story this one told.
FOX GIRL – I really liked the imagery of this poem and the flow of it while reading. It was a great poem that really painted a picture while acting as a subtle metaphor.
EXQUISITE – A favourite of Lee’s. Just dark descriptions and visceral emotions showcased. So well done.
AT THE BAR – Such a dark, brutal poem told over eight lines that tackles stereotypes, racism, sexism and has a cathartic vengeance to it.
Geneve Flynn
WHEN THE GIRLS BEGAN TO FALL – No words. Just a brutal dark poem that can be taken a number of ways. For me, personally, it felt very dystopian and apocalyptic in nature. Outstanding.
ABRIDGE – A heartbreakingly aching blackout poem that addresses violence against women. Poems like these are hard to read, but even harder knowing just how frequent this violence occurs.
INHERITANCE – A poem looking at the reality many women face where they’re held back and discouraged simply because of their gender
WHAT THE MIRROR SHOWED ME – This poem was beautiful, if not difficult to read. It will definitely affect each reader differently, especially those who have dealt with self-esteem/body issues.
STAY DOWN – Interesting poem that could be about a zombie or even a demon-type creature. Such a simple poem but so much story was shared within those few sparse lines.
Christina Sng
CONVERSATIONS WITH THE DEAD 1928 – Just a sad, sad poem about a woman looking back at her life and the choices she never made that led to her demise. This one is a real tearjerker.
I LEFT TOO LATE – A very dark, sad poem looking back at what could’ve been.
WILLOW – Another sad poem in a very similar vein to ‘I Left Too Late.’ Hard, hard poems to read.
AN INTERLUDE WITH THE BOARDING HOUSE OWNER – A deliciously evil poem that gives us a novel’s length of story in fifteen lines. Amazing.
FLAT – A dark, ghost-story poem that shares the flat-faced woman tale. This one was creepy from start to finish.
Angela Yuriko Smith
FOUR WILLOWS BOUND – Almost reads like a battle-cry between the four authors. A poem saying ‘we’ve all been through hard times, but together, by each other’s sides, we’re stronger because of it.’ Really moving.
HER HAJICHI – A fascinating poem about a traditional tattoo. This was great.
KIJIMUNA – A really creepy poem about someone seeing wood sprites and knowing they want to take them away.
THE NUKEKUBI – A ghostly poem based on a real experience the author had. This elevated the creepiness factor even more, and that’s saying something.
What I didn’t like: With a large number of poems within, some will be hit or miss to each reader, but saying that, even the ones that didn’t catch me like the others, the sorrow within the words absolutely did.
Why you should buy this: The four authors here are masters of dark fiction and have crafted some of the darkest, bleakest, most emotional poems I’ve ever read. Time and time again these poems created a look into certain situations that were so hard to read but so well written that it’ll leave you sobbing and struggling to move on to the next poem. But you’ll want to read the next one. And the next one.
Just so, so good.
September 24, 2021
Personal journeys, reclaimed mythologies and fury permeate this collection by four authors. Each writes in English, in the shade of other languages. Each uses poetry as a vehicle of expression. Poetry, as Flynn herself says, is used to express romantic love in both Eastern and Western traditions, ideals of beauty and harmony – in short, all the things she and her fellows are out to disrupt. Their work is derived in many cases from traditional forms such as sonnet and senryu, but these are repurposed with deadly intent.
Derived from traditional forms. That ought to be stamped on the cover, like a warning! From the shuffling feet of Smith’s grandmother to the lengths Murray’s “Exquisite” goes to for perfection, traditional forms of the Japanese or Singaporean, Malaysian or Chinese feminine are revealed as torture, both physical and mental. The cruelty of casual racism compounds the cruelty of husbands and other masters, be they human or the gods themselves. Worst of all are the expectations of a society constructed on the myth of self-sacrifice.
One of the highlights is Flynn’s “When the Girls Began to Fall.” Based on a nightmare, cast as a pantoum, this elegant and rhythmic piece paces a life to its terrifying crescendo. “Each year, still, they fall, younger and younger… “. Sng, by contrast, works primarily in free verse, but with wonderful wit and precision (as demonstrated in her solo volumes A Collection of Nightmares and A Collection of Dreamscapes). In the trilogy, “Conversations with the Dead 1928”, “Conversations with the Dead 2028“, and “Requiem”, Death herself is horrified by the reports of the recently deceased, and resorts to drastic measures, wringing real beauty from violence and pain.
Because these poems are beautiful. Despite their subject, the at times graphic content, beautiful. What they are not is fetishistic. Fetishism, of binding, of boxing, is exploded here - the women resist to the extent of shifting shape.
Hell gates, hungry ghosts, head-hunters, kijimuna, shishi, penanggalan – what a wealth of potential allies! Do not be afraid of confusion – each poem is glossed by the author, generously filling in the gaps in a reader’s knowledge. Be afraid of disturbing the altars to the dead during ghost month, in Sng’s “The Offering”. Be afraid of Murray’s “Filamentous Evolution” and for goodness sake, don’t insult Flynn’s ”Rent-a-Wife”, as the myths of the past bleed into those of the future.
The most personal cycle concerns Smith’s discovery and exploration of her Uchinanchu heritage, through linked haiku of genuine skill. Recounting the crimes of both Japanese and American forces during the second World War, she wields words like weapons – Inujini, a dog’s death. Chibichiri gama, the cave where so many civilians died. Onarigami, a medium provides a bridge between the living and the world of spirits.
This is a brilliant book, insightful and scintillant. Construed as a thematic sequel to the award-winning Black Cranes: Tales of Unquiet Women (the anthology edited by Murray and Flynn and containing fiction by Sng and Smith), it may also be viewed as a distillation. The theme is strong, but the lessons reach beyond it. Cutting across rhetoric and euphemism, Tortured Willows will hold meaning for whoever dares read it.
Derived from traditional forms. That ought to be stamped on the cover, like a warning! From the shuffling feet of Smith’s grandmother to the lengths Murray’s “Exquisite” goes to for perfection, traditional forms of the Japanese or Singaporean, Malaysian or Chinese feminine are revealed as torture, both physical and mental. The cruelty of casual racism compounds the cruelty of husbands and other masters, be they human or the gods themselves. Worst of all are the expectations of a society constructed on the myth of self-sacrifice.
One of the highlights is Flynn’s “When the Girls Began to Fall.” Based on a nightmare, cast as a pantoum, this elegant and rhythmic piece paces a life to its terrifying crescendo. “Each year, still, they fall, younger and younger… “. Sng, by contrast, works primarily in free verse, but with wonderful wit and precision (as demonstrated in her solo volumes A Collection of Nightmares and A Collection of Dreamscapes). In the trilogy, “Conversations with the Dead 1928”, “Conversations with the Dead 2028“, and “Requiem”, Death herself is horrified by the reports of the recently deceased, and resorts to drastic measures, wringing real beauty from violence and pain.
Because these poems are beautiful. Despite their subject, the at times graphic content, beautiful. What they are not is fetishistic. Fetishism, of binding, of boxing, is exploded here - the women resist to the extent of shifting shape.
Hell gates, hungry ghosts, head-hunters, kijimuna, shishi, penanggalan – what a wealth of potential allies! Do not be afraid of confusion – each poem is glossed by the author, generously filling in the gaps in a reader’s knowledge. Be afraid of disturbing the altars to the dead during ghost month, in Sng’s “The Offering”. Be afraid of Murray’s “Filamentous Evolution” and for goodness sake, don’t insult Flynn’s ”Rent-a-Wife”, as the myths of the past bleed into those of the future.
The most personal cycle concerns Smith’s discovery and exploration of her Uchinanchu heritage, through linked haiku of genuine skill. Recounting the crimes of both Japanese and American forces during the second World War, she wields words like weapons – Inujini, a dog’s death. Chibichiri gama, the cave where so many civilians died. Onarigami, a medium provides a bridge between the living and the world of spirits.
This is a brilliant book, insightful and scintillant. Construed as a thematic sequel to the award-winning Black Cranes: Tales of Unquiet Women (the anthology edited by Murray and Flynn and containing fiction by Sng and Smith), it may also be viewed as a distillation. The theme is strong, but the lessons reach beyond it. Cutting across rhetoric and euphemism, Tortured Willows will hold meaning for whoever dares read it.
October 5, 2021
It was an immense honor to contribute a foreword to this collection. This is an extremely special and needed work. Each poem is filled with memory, pain, beauty, and exquisite sorrow... the experience of reading with the ghosts of both those dead and alive, the ghosts that live within each of us. Lee Murray, Geneve Flynn, Christina Sng, and Angela Yuriko Smith pour their hearts into every word and it will leave the reader absolutely breathless and eternally grateful to have experienced it.
April 9, 2022
Tortured Willows features four established powerhouse poets as they explore what it means to be a Southeast Asian woman: both the power imbued with it and the resilience. I was familiar with the work of only one of the four, Christina Sng, and found myself consumed by this collection. Although the four authors have very different styles, each of their sections is both haunting and beautiful.
My favorite thing about Sng’s work has always been her ability to tell a detailed story with just a few carefully chosen words, and her entries in Willows did not disappoint. Her pieces depicting the horror one faces while trapped in a violent relationship stuck with me the most. “The Offering,” which follows a wife and mother who counts the moments until she can be counted among the dead, is particularly powerful, especially when the protagonist is offered a reprieve. Angela Yuriko Smith’s work taught me quite a bit about Okinawan culture, from the Onarigami and Hajichi to kijimuna and yuta, and “The Nukekubi,” about a young girl’s experience with a yokai (ghost) while far from home, is especially compelling.
The focus of Lee Murray’s entries varies based on the piece, but there isn’t a weak entry in the bunch. “Cheongsam” is a gorgeous metaphor about what women inherit, “The Girl with the Bellows” stresses the importance of representation, and my favorite of her offerings here, “At the Bar” is eight lines of delightful feminist revenge.
Geneve Flynn’s section was my favorite of the collection; her use of physical arrangement, play with form, and meticulous diction are all expertly executed. In “Abridge,” Flynn utilizes black-out poetry to communicate a powerful statement about violence against women. In “Bride Price,” haunting imagery educates about the tradition of a ghost marriage. In “Stay Down,” the narrator attempts to bury the albatross that haunts her, a “djinn.” Finally, “A Thing of Beauty” compels the reader to research the case of Michael James Pratt and in turn, facilitates remembrance of, and reverence for, his victims.
This is not a collection simply for poetry lovers. This is not a collection simply for Asian women, or even women in general. It is a collection for anyone who appreciates the craft of language and what it can achieve. What these four authors have created is a terrible beauty and worth examining.
My favorite thing about Sng’s work has always been her ability to tell a detailed story with just a few carefully chosen words, and her entries in Willows did not disappoint. Her pieces depicting the horror one faces while trapped in a violent relationship stuck with me the most. “The Offering,” which follows a wife and mother who counts the moments until she can be counted among the dead, is particularly powerful, especially when the protagonist is offered a reprieve. Angela Yuriko Smith’s work taught me quite a bit about Okinawan culture, from the Onarigami and Hajichi to kijimuna and yuta, and “The Nukekubi,” about a young girl’s experience with a yokai (ghost) while far from home, is especially compelling.
The focus of Lee Murray’s entries varies based on the piece, but there isn’t a weak entry in the bunch. “Cheongsam” is a gorgeous metaphor about what women inherit, “The Girl with the Bellows” stresses the importance of representation, and my favorite of her offerings here, “At the Bar” is eight lines of delightful feminist revenge.
Geneve Flynn’s section was my favorite of the collection; her use of physical arrangement, play with form, and meticulous diction are all expertly executed. In “Abridge,” Flynn utilizes black-out poetry to communicate a powerful statement about violence against women. In “Bride Price,” haunting imagery educates about the tradition of a ghost marriage. In “Stay Down,” the narrator attempts to bury the albatross that haunts her, a “djinn.” Finally, “A Thing of Beauty” compels the reader to research the case of Michael James Pratt and in turn, facilitates remembrance of, and reverence for, his victims.
This is not a collection simply for poetry lovers. This is not a collection simply for Asian women, or even women in general. It is a collection for anyone who appreciates the craft of language and what it can achieve. What these four authors have created is a terrible beauty and worth examining.
October 2, 2021
As a child I spent many hours swinging from the ground sweeping limbs of a willow. Never once did she allow me to fall.
This collection by four amazing authors will not let you down. The stories behind the poems take each to a new level. Love & torture in which the collection is created is evident among every page. They remain unbroken like the willow.
Christina Sng’s “Phoenix” is heart wrenching!
Angela Yuriko Smith’s “Four Willows Bound” is strength!
Lee Murray’s “Cheongsam” is breathtaking!
Geneve Flynn’s “When the Girls Begin to Fall” is a heartbreaking realization!
You will not believe this is Flynn’s first endeavor with a collection of poetry. Her writing is a flawless gift!!
Highly recommend!!!
This collection by four amazing authors will not let you down. The stories behind the poems take each to a new level. Love & torture in which the collection is created is evident among every page. They remain unbroken like the willow.
Christina Sng’s “Phoenix” is heart wrenching!
Angela Yuriko Smith’s “Four Willows Bound” is strength!
Lee Murray’s “Cheongsam” is breathtaking!
Geneve Flynn’s “When the Girls Begin to Fall” is a heartbreaking realization!
You will not believe this is Flynn’s first endeavor with a collection of poetry. Her writing is a flawless gift!!
Highly recommend!!!
October 9, 2021
A striking, heart-wrenching masterpiece, comprised of four vital voices in verse... These poems bloom with taut images that slice away preconceptions and deepen attention to appropriations of heritage and impositions of restricting expectations. Fans of modern speculative verse and horror poetry will revel in this impressive collection. From goddesses and teenagers to angry ghosts, these poems will haunt and inspire. Highly Recommend. Find the full review at Monster Librarian https://www.monsterlibrarian.com/TheC...
October 20, 2021
The Bram Stoker Award and Shirley Jackson Award-winning anthology, Black Cranes: Tales of Unquiet Women , was one of my favorite reads of 2020, and one of my favorite reads of all time (you can see my full review here). So when editor Lee Murray reached out to me to ask if I’d like a digital review copy of Tortured Willows: Bent, Bowed, Unbroken, a book of poems which serves as a thematic companion to Black Cranes, I jumped at the chance.
Black Cranes is an anthology of dark fantasy and horror stories, written by Asian writers and centered on the experiences and voices of Asian women. With inspirations rooted in a variety of mythologies and stories from across East and Southeast Asia, the tales of Black Cranes address themes of otherness, oppression, obligation, diaspora, and rage. Tortured Willows takes up these themes again, but through the form of poetry. Four of the authors featured in Black Cranes return in this new volume to again explore the experiences of Asian women from a variety of perspectives, and in a variety of poetical forms—drawing upon history, myth, contemporary politics, and often achingly personal history.
The first section of the book is made up of poems by Lee Murray, a woman from New Zealand who is of Chinese descent. Many of her poems in this collection pay tribute to the Chinese immigrants to New Zealand who arrived generations ago. Poems such as “Gold Mountain” and “The Economy of the Chinese Woman” depict the harsh conditions of poverty and suffering which these early immigrants endured. Other poems are set in China, and still more in contemporary New Zealand. There are poems of rage and horror; in “Tiyanak,” there’s a poem of the monstrous baby of Filipino folklore (a poem which echoes two tales of monstrous babies in Black Cranes.) There are poems in which horror and delicate beauty exist side by side, as in “Orchid Moon,” which begins “while you sleep/Little Wife/cuts wet halfmoons/into your open palms;” or "Exquisite,” a poem in which a woman literally breaks herself to meet torturous standards of beauty, and which ends with the image of “on the pond/a crescent moon/reflects.” Lee Murray displays a sly and sometimes whimsical sense of humor, too; one of my favorite pieces in this collection is “Interview with a Goddess,” which takes the form of a contemporary press interview with Chang’e, the Chinese goddess of the moon. There’s whimsy in the premise of the poem, as the interviewer sets the scene for an “exclusive” with “the moon girl/former wife of the legendary Hou Yi.” But there’s also real poignancy here, in the interviewer’s framing of Chang’e’s story, and her effort to subvert it and tell her own truth.
My favorite poems in this section draw upon Murray’s personal history and truths. In each section of this book, there is a highlighted quote from one of the poet’s stories in Black Cranes. Murray’s quote (from her story “Phoenix Claws”) reads: “You didn’t blend two cultures without some conflict, no matter how progressive and modern you thought you were.” It is this story of culture clash and blending, of diaspora and mixed heritage and felt otherness in her own life, which perhaps rings most powerfully in her chapter of poems. Her opening poem, “Willows,” speaks of her grandparents’ arrival in New Zealand, and the unease they feel in their new country and at the great shifts in their lives, in the actions of their daughter and birth of their granddaughter. The poem has a ballad-like form, with the haunting refrain of “and the willows whispered warnings/all the while.” “The Girl with the Bellows” is a lovely poem in which the poet/narrator sees her mother seeing herself represented, perhaps for the first time, in a few fleeting frames of a movie. And “Cheongsam,” one of my favorite poems, is inspired by the poet’s grandmothers’ dress: “my grandmother’s cheongsam/sewn from a Shanghai sunrise/with deep slits and black piping.”
Geneve Flynn, an Australian woman of Malaysian and Chinese background, is the poet for book’s next section. Like Murray, Flynn plays with rhyme and poetic forms; her section includes such forms as villanelles, pantoums, sonnets, acrostics, and more. Rage animates these poems. Rage and also mourning for the girls and women whose lives have been bent and broken by society’s demands and restrictions, who have suffered gendered violence—and also those who have suffered violence that is both gendered and racist, the intersection that comes with being an Asian woman in a predominantly white, Western society. Flynn’s opening poem, “When the Girls Began to Fall,” is a delicately haunting narrative of girls trying to climb beyond their village’s restrictions, past the rules and duties imposed upon them, to see what they’re not allowed to see—but who all, inevitably, fall. “Inheritance” echoes the hunger of the narrator in that first poem. “What was it like/being the brightest spark/with the dimmest road/that narrowed and ended/with a sudden cliff/and walls all around?” asks the speaker in “Inheritance,” addressing an unseen mother or ancestor. Both speaker and mother literally become hungry ghosts (figures from Chinese mythology), after being starved of their full desires and potential in this earthly world. In “Bride Price,” a ghost bride is robbed and her body exploited even after death. “Mother, and Feet, and Hands, and Eyes” is a fairy-tale like murder ballad of sorts, in which seemingly kind and loving aunties destroy a girl with their “gifts” and teachings. It’s a dark, dark poem about the complicity that women play in perpetuating the abuse and oppression of other women.
Some of Flynn’s angriest poems address the politics of contemporary sexual violence in the West. ”Abridge” takes a speech from Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison (on sexual misconduct in Parliament House) and blackouts passages to create a “found poem” about the gendered violence women face in Australia, contrasted against the (hidden) text of what Morrison actually said. Flynn is particularly scathing when she writes about the specific sexism that Asian women face in Australia: the objectification, stereotyping, and fetishization. She is also heartbreaking when she writes of the internalized racism that can result from growing up as a person of Asian ethnicity in a predominantly white society. Her fear and love and vulnerability is especially moving in the poem, “Unpicked Stitching,” in which she writes about her fears for her biracial son. She writes: “. . . So now I must/stitch you back together/with just the finest thread;/only whitest parts. No one/will ever know you/came from me. What I/didn’t see was just how/strong you are.”
Christina Sng, a Singaporean-Chinese woman based in Singapore, is featured in the third section of this book. Sng’s poems are perfect little horror stories, self-contained narratives of darkness and revenge. In her introduction she writes:
“Daughter: Why are avenging ghosts all women?
“Mother: Because we have just cause.”
Sng’s poems illustrate that just cause and also the satisfying vengeance. “I Left Too Late” is one of my favorite pieces of this type. A junior wife/concubine abused by her master and one of his other wives laments: “I left too late./Too late for me/To take my son along:/My son whom Second Wife/Claimed for her own.” However, as the poem continues, the narrative twists and turns, revealing that in the end, it’s not too late after all—not where it counts. It’s a most satisfying conclusion.
Various ghosts and monsters haunt Seng’s poems, taking revenge for themselves or for others. Sng draws from both traditional mythology and from contemporary urban legends in Singapore, invoking urban legends of headhunters in the late 1970s, mysterious women in white, and rituals and beliefs around Ghost Month. There’s both fury and catharsis in these poems, and even a sly hint of humor at times. One of my favorite poems combines sweetness with the supernatural; “Midnight Wake” is a lovely poem of a little girl, the wake for her beloved grandmother, and a cat which may or may not grant what the little girl desires.
There’s some despair, too, in the series of poems in which Death speaks with women a hundred years apart, and we see that too much has remained the same. But Sng’s section ends on an empowering note. In “A Speck of Dust in the Sea,” a woman faces a threatening god of storm and lightning and takes his power from him, becoming a god in her own right: “I am a speck of dust/Commander of the sea/And I will bring the storm/Wherever I go.” It’s an uplifting conclusion to this section, a story of a woman claiming agency and power for herself, accomplishing what too few in the past have been able to do.
The last section of this collection was written by Angela Yuriko Smith, an American woman of Okinawan descent—or rather, Uchinanchu descent, as the people of Okinawa refer to themselves in their own language. As Smith writes in her introduction, her poems are about the discovery and reclamation of her Uchinanchu heritage, and the larger reclamation from history of her ancestors’ culture and history. To this day, many people in the West do not understand that Okinawa was once independent of Japan, with its own culture and language. Smith writes that she herself did not understand this until she was in her late 30s; such have been the effects of forced assimilation and erasure. Smith’s poems are alive with the myths and culture of her ancestors: mediums, deities, mischievous wood sprites, and guardian lion dogs. In one of her author notes, Smith writes that the people of Okinawa and the Ryukyu Islands believed that “spiritual power is the domain of women. Other cultures may burn their witches and mediums, but in Okinawan society women are celebrated for their abilities to connect with the divine.” Smith’s poems also celebrate this connection. There is light in many of these poems, but there is a sense of loss, too, as in “Kayoda House,” where the poet-narrator wonders at a possible ancestral connection which she cannot verify. In “The Nukekubi,” there is a terrifying ghost and a sense of displacement and alienation amidst the terror; the speaker encounters the mysterious nukekubi in the American South, in Tennessee, far from ghost’s home. Smith writes: “My nukekubi/out of place in Tennessee. . . /out of place like me.”
Some of the most harrowing poems of this section—and in the entire book— describe the horrors that occurred in Okinawa during World War II. “Inside Chibichiragama” and “Outside Chibichirigama” describe the mass civilian deaths that occurred upon the landing of United States forces on the island. And in “Inujini” the poet laments the uselessness of Okinawan deaths during the final campaign of the war: “Caught between Japan/and America/no choices for the Luchuans--/country and culture/both taken away.” And: “—dying a dog’s death/for a nation not their own…”
Despite the horrors and loss, however, what comes through powerfully in Smith’s poems is a sense of resilience and hope. In “Her Hajichi” she writes of the traditional tattoos of Okinawan/Uchinanchu women, which were long forbidden by the Japanese. “The ink may be gone/but the spirit remains strong/and calls for return” she writes, and in an author note she adds that many Uchinanchu women are beginning to revive this tradition.
Resilience is, in fact, a theme that runs throughout this book, in all four of the poets’ works. Resilience is invoked by the title image itself—of willows, tortured and bent but unbroken. Willow trees are a recurring image across poems, representing different things at different times. But the willow tree’s deep-rootedness, flexibility, and strength comes through most powerfully. In Smith’s opening poem, “Four Willows Bound,” she imagines herself and her three co-authors as four willow trees bound together, stripped of their branches but too deeply rooted to pull up, surviving storms in sisterhood together.
All in all, Tortured Willows: Bent, Bowed, Unbroken is a beautiful book. The poems here are by turns dark, harrowing, furious, and moving, but they also invoke women’s strength and resilience. There is horror here, yes, but also light and beauty. Each poet has included commentary on each of her poems, which adds personal, historical, and cultural context and richness. These commentaries work together with the poems to create a singular work. I would also be remiss if I didn’t add that the cover art and design and layout of the book (which I have only in digital form) is just gorgeous. Tortured Willows is a worthy follow-up and companion to the groundbreaking Black Crows anthology. If you read and enjoyed Black Crows, you will also love this follow-up. And if you haven’t yet read Black Crows, I strongly urge you to find and read both of these remarkable books.
Black Cranes is an anthology of dark fantasy and horror stories, written by Asian writers and centered on the experiences and voices of Asian women. With inspirations rooted in a variety of mythologies and stories from across East and Southeast Asia, the tales of Black Cranes address themes of otherness, oppression, obligation, diaspora, and rage. Tortured Willows takes up these themes again, but through the form of poetry. Four of the authors featured in Black Cranes return in this new volume to again explore the experiences of Asian women from a variety of perspectives, and in a variety of poetical forms—drawing upon history, myth, contemporary politics, and often achingly personal history.
The first section of the book is made up of poems by Lee Murray, a woman from New Zealand who is of Chinese descent. Many of her poems in this collection pay tribute to the Chinese immigrants to New Zealand who arrived generations ago. Poems such as “Gold Mountain” and “The Economy of the Chinese Woman” depict the harsh conditions of poverty and suffering which these early immigrants endured. Other poems are set in China, and still more in contemporary New Zealand. There are poems of rage and horror; in “Tiyanak,” there’s a poem of the monstrous baby of Filipino folklore (a poem which echoes two tales of monstrous babies in Black Cranes.) There are poems in which horror and delicate beauty exist side by side, as in “Orchid Moon,” which begins “while you sleep/Little Wife/cuts wet halfmoons/into your open palms;” or "Exquisite,” a poem in which a woman literally breaks herself to meet torturous standards of beauty, and which ends with the image of “on the pond/a crescent moon/reflects.” Lee Murray displays a sly and sometimes whimsical sense of humor, too; one of my favorite pieces in this collection is “Interview with a Goddess,” which takes the form of a contemporary press interview with Chang’e, the Chinese goddess of the moon. There’s whimsy in the premise of the poem, as the interviewer sets the scene for an “exclusive” with “the moon girl/former wife of the legendary Hou Yi.” But there’s also real poignancy here, in the interviewer’s framing of Chang’e’s story, and her effort to subvert it and tell her own truth.
My favorite poems in this section draw upon Murray’s personal history and truths. In each section of this book, there is a highlighted quote from one of the poet’s stories in Black Cranes. Murray’s quote (from her story “Phoenix Claws”) reads: “You didn’t blend two cultures without some conflict, no matter how progressive and modern you thought you were.” It is this story of culture clash and blending, of diaspora and mixed heritage and felt otherness in her own life, which perhaps rings most powerfully in her chapter of poems. Her opening poem, “Willows,” speaks of her grandparents’ arrival in New Zealand, and the unease they feel in their new country and at the great shifts in their lives, in the actions of their daughter and birth of their granddaughter. The poem has a ballad-like form, with the haunting refrain of “and the willows whispered warnings/all the while.” “The Girl with the Bellows” is a lovely poem in which the poet/narrator sees her mother seeing herself represented, perhaps for the first time, in a few fleeting frames of a movie. And “Cheongsam,” one of my favorite poems, is inspired by the poet’s grandmothers’ dress: “my grandmother’s cheongsam/sewn from a Shanghai sunrise/with deep slits and black piping.”
Geneve Flynn, an Australian woman of Malaysian and Chinese background, is the poet for book’s next section. Like Murray, Flynn plays with rhyme and poetic forms; her section includes such forms as villanelles, pantoums, sonnets, acrostics, and more. Rage animates these poems. Rage and also mourning for the girls and women whose lives have been bent and broken by society’s demands and restrictions, who have suffered gendered violence—and also those who have suffered violence that is both gendered and racist, the intersection that comes with being an Asian woman in a predominantly white, Western society. Flynn’s opening poem, “When the Girls Began to Fall,” is a delicately haunting narrative of girls trying to climb beyond their village’s restrictions, past the rules and duties imposed upon them, to see what they’re not allowed to see—but who all, inevitably, fall. “Inheritance” echoes the hunger of the narrator in that first poem. “What was it like/being the brightest spark/with the dimmest road/that narrowed and ended/with a sudden cliff/and walls all around?” asks the speaker in “Inheritance,” addressing an unseen mother or ancestor. Both speaker and mother literally become hungry ghosts (figures from Chinese mythology), after being starved of their full desires and potential in this earthly world. In “Bride Price,” a ghost bride is robbed and her body exploited even after death. “Mother, and Feet, and Hands, and Eyes” is a fairy-tale like murder ballad of sorts, in which seemingly kind and loving aunties destroy a girl with their “gifts” and teachings. It’s a dark, dark poem about the complicity that women play in perpetuating the abuse and oppression of other women.
Some of Flynn’s angriest poems address the politics of contemporary sexual violence in the West. ”Abridge” takes a speech from Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison (on sexual misconduct in Parliament House) and blackouts passages to create a “found poem” about the gendered violence women face in Australia, contrasted against the (hidden) text of what Morrison actually said. Flynn is particularly scathing when she writes about the specific sexism that Asian women face in Australia: the objectification, stereotyping, and fetishization. She is also heartbreaking when she writes of the internalized racism that can result from growing up as a person of Asian ethnicity in a predominantly white society. Her fear and love and vulnerability is especially moving in the poem, “Unpicked Stitching,” in which she writes about her fears for her biracial son. She writes: “. . . So now I must/stitch you back together/with just the finest thread;/only whitest parts. No one/will ever know you/came from me. What I/didn’t see was just how/strong you are.”
Christina Sng, a Singaporean-Chinese woman based in Singapore, is featured in the third section of this book. Sng’s poems are perfect little horror stories, self-contained narratives of darkness and revenge. In her introduction she writes:
“Daughter: Why are avenging ghosts all women?
“Mother: Because we have just cause.”
Sng’s poems illustrate that just cause and also the satisfying vengeance. “I Left Too Late” is one of my favorite pieces of this type. A junior wife/concubine abused by her master and one of his other wives laments: “I left too late./Too late for me/To take my son along:/My son whom Second Wife/Claimed for her own.” However, as the poem continues, the narrative twists and turns, revealing that in the end, it’s not too late after all—not where it counts. It’s a most satisfying conclusion.
Various ghosts and monsters haunt Seng’s poems, taking revenge for themselves or for others. Sng draws from both traditional mythology and from contemporary urban legends in Singapore, invoking urban legends of headhunters in the late 1970s, mysterious women in white, and rituals and beliefs around Ghost Month. There’s both fury and catharsis in these poems, and even a sly hint of humor at times. One of my favorite poems combines sweetness with the supernatural; “Midnight Wake” is a lovely poem of a little girl, the wake for her beloved grandmother, and a cat which may or may not grant what the little girl desires.
There’s some despair, too, in the series of poems in which Death speaks with women a hundred years apart, and we see that too much has remained the same. But Sng’s section ends on an empowering note. In “A Speck of Dust in the Sea,” a woman faces a threatening god of storm and lightning and takes his power from him, becoming a god in her own right: “I am a speck of dust/Commander of the sea/And I will bring the storm/Wherever I go.” It’s an uplifting conclusion to this section, a story of a woman claiming agency and power for herself, accomplishing what too few in the past have been able to do.
The last section of this collection was written by Angela Yuriko Smith, an American woman of Okinawan descent—or rather, Uchinanchu descent, as the people of Okinawa refer to themselves in their own language. As Smith writes in her introduction, her poems are about the discovery and reclamation of her Uchinanchu heritage, and the larger reclamation from history of her ancestors’ culture and history. To this day, many people in the West do not understand that Okinawa was once independent of Japan, with its own culture and language. Smith writes that she herself did not understand this until she was in her late 30s; such have been the effects of forced assimilation and erasure. Smith’s poems are alive with the myths and culture of her ancestors: mediums, deities, mischievous wood sprites, and guardian lion dogs. In one of her author notes, Smith writes that the people of Okinawa and the Ryukyu Islands believed that “spiritual power is the domain of women. Other cultures may burn their witches and mediums, but in Okinawan society women are celebrated for their abilities to connect with the divine.” Smith’s poems also celebrate this connection. There is light in many of these poems, but there is a sense of loss, too, as in “Kayoda House,” where the poet-narrator wonders at a possible ancestral connection which she cannot verify. In “The Nukekubi,” there is a terrifying ghost and a sense of displacement and alienation amidst the terror; the speaker encounters the mysterious nukekubi in the American South, in Tennessee, far from ghost’s home. Smith writes: “My nukekubi/out of place in Tennessee. . . /out of place like me.”
Some of the most harrowing poems of this section—and in the entire book— describe the horrors that occurred in Okinawa during World War II. “Inside Chibichiragama” and “Outside Chibichirigama” describe the mass civilian deaths that occurred upon the landing of United States forces on the island. And in “Inujini” the poet laments the uselessness of Okinawan deaths during the final campaign of the war: “Caught between Japan/and America/no choices for the Luchuans--/country and culture/both taken away.” And: “—dying a dog’s death/for a nation not their own…”
Despite the horrors and loss, however, what comes through powerfully in Smith’s poems is a sense of resilience and hope. In “Her Hajichi” she writes of the traditional tattoos of Okinawan/Uchinanchu women, which were long forbidden by the Japanese. “The ink may be gone/but the spirit remains strong/and calls for return” she writes, and in an author note she adds that many Uchinanchu women are beginning to revive this tradition.
Resilience is, in fact, a theme that runs throughout this book, in all four of the poets’ works. Resilience is invoked by the title image itself—of willows, tortured and bent but unbroken. Willow trees are a recurring image across poems, representing different things at different times. But the willow tree’s deep-rootedness, flexibility, and strength comes through most powerfully. In Smith’s opening poem, “Four Willows Bound,” she imagines herself and her three co-authors as four willow trees bound together, stripped of their branches but too deeply rooted to pull up, surviving storms in sisterhood together.
All in all, Tortured Willows: Bent, Bowed, Unbroken is a beautiful book. The poems here are by turns dark, harrowing, furious, and moving, but they also invoke women’s strength and resilience. There is horror here, yes, but also light and beauty. Each poet has included commentary on each of her poems, which adds personal, historical, and cultural context and richness. These commentaries work together with the poems to create a singular work. I would also be remiss if I didn’t add that the cover art and design and layout of the book (which I have only in digital form) is just gorgeous. Tortured Willows is a worthy follow-up and companion to the groundbreaking Black Crows anthology. If you read and enjoyed Black Crows, you will also love this follow-up. And if you haven’t yet read Black Crows, I strongly urge you to find and read both of these remarkable books.
October 7, 2021
Review of Tortured Willows Bowed. Bent. Unbroken.
Authors: Christina Sng, Angela Yuriko Smith, Lee Murray, and Geneve Flynn
Publisher: Yuriko Publishing
Pages: 154
The willow is femininity, desire, death. Rebirth. With its ability to grow from a single broken branch, it is the living embodiment of immortality. It is the yin that wards off malevolent spirits. It is both revered and shunned. In Tortured Willows, four Southeast Asian women writers of horror expand on the exploration of otherness begun with the Bram Stoker Award-winning anthology Black Cranes: Tales of Unquiet Women.
Like the willow, women have bent and bowed under the expectations and duty heaped upon them. Like the willow, they endure and refuse to break.
With exquisite poetry, Christina Sng, Angela Yuriko Smith, Lee Murray, and Geneve Flynn invite you to sit beneath the tortured willow's gravid branches and listen to the uneasy shiver of its leaves.
Honestly, I did not know what to expect. You see, I've heard of Black Crane and yet to explore it. But after this, I'll make sure it goes on my shelf. The forward by K.P. Kulski sets the scene for me instantly of what to expect from this beautiful yet heartbreaking collection. I got to enter four different worlds, and each one was unique with traditions and stories that will make you question what lives in the darkness—saying that they did have one common thread that they all shared, persecution, racism, and discrimination. I was introduced to a world that broke my heart in two, where women being beaten by their husbands was socially acceptable. Eating another human being was a custom and how men, women, and children lost their lives in countless struggles. Sometimes the worst horrors are the ones right on your doorstep, and this collection highlights the mistreatment and subjugation that Asian women have experienced throughout the years. In some cases, that treatment is still carrying on now, which is both shocking and disgusting to think of. I also learned a lot about various cultures and customs I had no idea existed, so it was insightful and educational.
The collection kicks off with poetry by Lee Murray, an author widely known throughout the horror community and a very talented author to boot. I looked through into the world of Lee and saw what it was like to be a child of two backgrounds. The poem Willows, she says, reflects a poem by Dennis Glover called Magpies; this poem honesty was soul-destroying for me. To hear how her people shunned her mom for falling in love with someone outside their culture, it broke me that people can be so cruel to those they call family. But the one that made me want to hug Lee was Cheongsam, the fact that she felt unworthy to wear her grandmother’s dress due to being ‘the daughter of the white devil.’ If I met little Lee, I would help her get into that dress and tell her how stunning she looked. But that’s the thing with this collection of poetry. It gives you a piece of the poet. The emotions in some just pour into you, and I honestly hate the idea that out there is a child that thinks the world hates them due to their heritage. I mean, the poetry that flows through this book is horror in its purest form. To be hated and judged for your background, not knowing what you did to deserve the abuse and stereotyping. To be treated like a commodity or a trophy, fighting to feed your child through war and poverty is horror. The poetry in here sent vibrations up my spine because the explanations behind some sent genuine shivers up my spine.
I mean the suffering and degradation that Chinese women went through coming to New Zealand and the fact that they endured so much abuse from their husbands. The account of Cannibalism in Guest of Honor by Geneve Flynn is a poetry style I've never seen before. With three different poems in one, it was incredibly creative to see two sides of the story and what an outsider would notice. Geneve had some incredibly creative poetry formats. Each one made an equally strong point, from the blackout poem that highlights sexual conduct towards Asian women to the Roundabout Bouncy style poetry used to represent What the Mirror showed me. I got a look behind the curtain at some of the darker practices of various Asian cultures and ghost tales regarding spirits and monsters I'd never even heard of. Flat and Headhunters by Christina Sng showed two different forms of horror and went from avenging spirits to human beings hunting for children’s heads. Yer, I know you are thinking of buying it now, aren’t you? The poetry ranged from personal accounts to the representation of events and people. Always keeping me guessing and never knowing what to expect next. It was also an enlightening piece of literature that also educated me on the various spiritual aspects of Asian culture. That came in the form of Angela Yuriko Smith. Now Okinawa is on my to-visit list if I ever get over there. Angela made me truly understand the rich heritage and sacred practices of the Ryukyuan people. The honor and pride they show in worshipping and communicating with their ancestors, the respect they show to both living, dead, and creatures of the world are genuinely incredible. As a reader, you will want to dive into a world unlike anything you've ever touched before. The detail and care put behind each poem shine through as they give voices to those who were once silenced and show you a world that will open your eyes to hardship, suffering, and the fight for freedom
Authors: Christina Sng, Angela Yuriko Smith, Lee Murray, and Geneve Flynn
Publisher: Yuriko Publishing
Pages: 154
The willow is femininity, desire, death. Rebirth. With its ability to grow from a single broken branch, it is the living embodiment of immortality. It is the yin that wards off malevolent spirits. It is both revered and shunned. In Tortured Willows, four Southeast Asian women writers of horror expand on the exploration of otherness begun with the Bram Stoker Award-winning anthology Black Cranes: Tales of Unquiet Women.
Like the willow, women have bent and bowed under the expectations and duty heaped upon them. Like the willow, they endure and refuse to break.
With exquisite poetry, Christina Sng, Angela Yuriko Smith, Lee Murray, and Geneve Flynn invite you to sit beneath the tortured willow's gravid branches and listen to the uneasy shiver of its leaves.
Honestly, I did not know what to expect. You see, I've heard of Black Crane and yet to explore it. But after this, I'll make sure it goes on my shelf. The forward by K.P. Kulski sets the scene for me instantly of what to expect from this beautiful yet heartbreaking collection. I got to enter four different worlds, and each one was unique with traditions and stories that will make you question what lives in the darkness—saying that they did have one common thread that they all shared, persecution, racism, and discrimination. I was introduced to a world that broke my heart in two, where women being beaten by their husbands was socially acceptable. Eating another human being was a custom and how men, women, and children lost their lives in countless struggles. Sometimes the worst horrors are the ones right on your doorstep, and this collection highlights the mistreatment and subjugation that Asian women have experienced throughout the years. In some cases, that treatment is still carrying on now, which is both shocking and disgusting to think of. I also learned a lot about various cultures and customs I had no idea existed, so it was insightful and educational.
The collection kicks off with poetry by Lee Murray, an author widely known throughout the horror community and a very talented author to boot. I looked through into the world of Lee and saw what it was like to be a child of two backgrounds. The poem Willows, she says, reflects a poem by Dennis Glover called Magpies; this poem honesty was soul-destroying for me. To hear how her people shunned her mom for falling in love with someone outside their culture, it broke me that people can be so cruel to those they call family. But the one that made me want to hug Lee was Cheongsam, the fact that she felt unworthy to wear her grandmother’s dress due to being ‘the daughter of the white devil.’ If I met little Lee, I would help her get into that dress and tell her how stunning she looked. But that’s the thing with this collection of poetry. It gives you a piece of the poet. The emotions in some just pour into you, and I honestly hate the idea that out there is a child that thinks the world hates them due to their heritage. I mean, the poetry that flows through this book is horror in its purest form. To be hated and judged for your background, not knowing what you did to deserve the abuse and stereotyping. To be treated like a commodity or a trophy, fighting to feed your child through war and poverty is horror. The poetry in here sent vibrations up my spine because the explanations behind some sent genuine shivers up my spine.
I mean the suffering and degradation that Chinese women went through coming to New Zealand and the fact that they endured so much abuse from their husbands. The account of Cannibalism in Guest of Honor by Geneve Flynn is a poetry style I've never seen before. With three different poems in one, it was incredibly creative to see two sides of the story and what an outsider would notice. Geneve had some incredibly creative poetry formats. Each one made an equally strong point, from the blackout poem that highlights sexual conduct towards Asian women to the Roundabout Bouncy style poetry used to represent What the Mirror showed me. I got a look behind the curtain at some of the darker practices of various Asian cultures and ghost tales regarding spirits and monsters I'd never even heard of. Flat and Headhunters by Christina Sng showed two different forms of horror and went from avenging spirits to human beings hunting for children’s heads. Yer, I know you are thinking of buying it now, aren’t you? The poetry ranged from personal accounts to the representation of events and people. Always keeping me guessing and never knowing what to expect next. It was also an enlightening piece of literature that also educated me on the various spiritual aspects of Asian culture. That came in the form of Angela Yuriko Smith. Now Okinawa is on my to-visit list if I ever get over there. Angela made me truly understand the rich heritage and sacred practices of the Ryukyuan people. The honor and pride they show in worshipping and communicating with their ancestors, the respect they show to both living, dead, and creatures of the world are genuinely incredible. As a reader, you will want to dive into a world unlike anything you've ever touched before. The detail and care put behind each poem shine through as they give voices to those who were once silenced and show you a world that will open your eyes to hardship, suffering, and the fight for freedom
October 5, 2021
Reuniting "Black Cranes" anthology editors and contributors Lee Murray, Geneve Flynn, Christina Sng, and Angela Yuriko Smith, Tortured Willows is an evocative collection of poetry that showcases the phenomenal work of these amazingly gifted and award-winning writers, powerful women of colour.
The collection is infused with the experiences Asian women undergo--family histories, traumatic experiences, patriarchal and societal structures that undercut every aspect of their lives profoundly and tell them what to be and what not to be. Anti-Asian hate and sentiment, which more folks need to speak out against. In her gripping introduction, K.P. Kulski discusses the idea of "nurturing the ghost" from sociologist Grace Cho.
As Christina Sng asks, "why are all avenging ghosts women?" There's a good reason for this. Lee Murray highlights the custom of giving willow branches to loved ones as "an expression of sorrow at parting." She screams here again, with quiet fury, alongside her Willow-sisters. Murray tells the reader about cheongsam and erhu, her poems lyrical, spun with delicate care, sharing unique pain. With notes after each poem that illuminate the background and context for the work, which add to the immersive reading experience. The poems here are so different, each offering something fresh, something unknown, sharing of the wounds, and much more.
Geneve's poems are a startling revelation--with painful cuts that start out small then gradually overwhelm the reader but in a necessary way. There's a blackout poem which is a stirring commentary on Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison's speech that addressed sexual misconduct in Parliament House. As Flynn asserts, there is still too much emphasis on victim blaming and not enough on holding the perpetrators accountable, responsible, and to face consequences for their actions.
Other poems address the issue of expectations on Asian women to conform to cultural standards and punishment when they "transgress," ghost marriages, mourning, mythology, vampires, and so much more.
The use of non-Western poetic forms, particularly the Vietnamese luc bat as one example, are a welcome addition to the poetry field, and something I hope receives more widespread attention and recognition as time goes on.
I couldn't wait to unravel Christina Sng's poems--she is a treasure of the poetry world, and a lovely soul. Her poems crawl underneath the reader's fingernails and stream into their veins, staying with you long after you've finished reading. Here, these works are suffused with sorrow, anguish, desires for revenge, of pain, the dead, of children, and so much more.
Finally, rounding out the collection is the work of Angela Yuriko Smith, award-winning writer and editor. She talks of the pain of her grandmother losing her last name because it was "difficult" to pronounce, of what it means to be Okinawan, of how women can be like willows, Japanese beliefs such as Onarigami, and other spirits that leap from the page.
It is a collection so powerful that I struggled to find what to say to try to adequately capture its immense strength. Read this collection and if you haven't already, also read "Black Cranes." Finally, I hope this is the start of many more women of colour getting the spotlight and recognition they deserve.
The collection is infused with the experiences Asian women undergo--family histories, traumatic experiences, patriarchal and societal structures that undercut every aspect of their lives profoundly and tell them what to be and what not to be. Anti-Asian hate and sentiment, which more folks need to speak out against. In her gripping introduction, K.P. Kulski discusses the idea of "nurturing the ghost" from sociologist Grace Cho.
As Christina Sng asks, "why are all avenging ghosts women?" There's a good reason for this. Lee Murray highlights the custom of giving willow branches to loved ones as "an expression of sorrow at parting." She screams here again, with quiet fury, alongside her Willow-sisters. Murray tells the reader about cheongsam and erhu, her poems lyrical, spun with delicate care, sharing unique pain. With notes after each poem that illuminate the background and context for the work, which add to the immersive reading experience. The poems here are so different, each offering something fresh, something unknown, sharing of the wounds, and much more.
Geneve's poems are a startling revelation--with painful cuts that start out small then gradually overwhelm the reader but in a necessary way. There's a blackout poem which is a stirring commentary on Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison's speech that addressed sexual misconduct in Parliament House. As Flynn asserts, there is still too much emphasis on victim blaming and not enough on holding the perpetrators accountable, responsible, and to face consequences for their actions.
Other poems address the issue of expectations on Asian women to conform to cultural standards and punishment when they "transgress," ghost marriages, mourning, mythology, vampires, and so much more.
The use of non-Western poetic forms, particularly the Vietnamese luc bat as one example, are a welcome addition to the poetry field, and something I hope receives more widespread attention and recognition as time goes on.
I couldn't wait to unravel Christina Sng's poems--she is a treasure of the poetry world, and a lovely soul. Her poems crawl underneath the reader's fingernails and stream into their veins, staying with you long after you've finished reading. Here, these works are suffused with sorrow, anguish, desires for revenge, of pain, the dead, of children, and so much more.
Finally, rounding out the collection is the work of Angela Yuriko Smith, award-winning writer and editor. She talks of the pain of her grandmother losing her last name because it was "difficult" to pronounce, of what it means to be Okinawan, of how women can be like willows, Japanese beliefs such as Onarigami, and other spirits that leap from the page.
It is a collection so powerful that I struggled to find what to say to try to adequately capture its immense strength. Read this collection and if you haven't already, also read "Black Cranes." Finally, I hope this is the start of many more women of colour getting the spotlight and recognition they deserve.
October 19, 2021
Love this collection. Speaks to me on many levels, politics, feminism, and culture. I would recommend it for English Teachers who want to challenge and engage their students through a non-colonial lens.
October 8, 2021
Tortured Willows bleeds, sobs and howls with rage. The poems stab at the monsters who desecrate, they release spirits to deliver revenge and honour the memories of mothers and grandmothers. The words of these four poets - Lee Murray, Angela Yuriko Smith, Geneve Flynn and Christina Sng - cannot be ignored. By sharing often intensely personal experiences of otherness, of suffering and prejudice, they reach into your heart and demand you listen.
The driving force behind these verses is the combination of cultural heritage, the defintion of woman and the modern-day perception of the poets as 'other'. Employing a variety of forms, - from sonnet to black-out to blank verse - the poems educate those of us who have been unaware as to the level of suffering of our sisters on the other side of the world. The notes provide further information, book, newspaper, document references to their histories and their realities.
Every poem deserves its place. Lee Murray delivers tragedy in Fox Girl and Exquisite and poignancy in The Girl with the Bellows. Geneve Flynn serves up anger in 'Abridge', the cultural practice of ghost brides in 'Bride Price', the fears of a mother for her son in 'Unpicked Stitching.
Christina Sng brings up supernatural revenge in Flat, The Visit and The Last Bus, respect for ancestors in The Offering and the place their ghosts still have in our lives.
Angela Yuriko Smith develops the strength of women in Four Willows Bound, the traditions of the Ryukyuan in Onarigami and Her Hajichi, her sense of difference in The Nukekubi.
In theory, I would list every poem - they all have something to say. In lieue of such a list, all I can say is buy - or borrow - but do read - this extraordinary and eye-opening collection
In the words of Angela Yuriko Smith in her poem, Four Willows Bound:
Four willows stood bound
in their sisterhood, in strength ---
unquiet, waiting
They are waiting for you.
The driving force behind these verses is the combination of cultural heritage, the defintion of woman and the modern-day perception of the poets as 'other'. Employing a variety of forms, - from sonnet to black-out to blank verse - the poems educate those of us who have been unaware as to the level of suffering of our sisters on the other side of the world. The notes provide further information, book, newspaper, document references to their histories and their realities.
Every poem deserves its place. Lee Murray delivers tragedy in Fox Girl and Exquisite and poignancy in The Girl with the Bellows. Geneve Flynn serves up anger in 'Abridge', the cultural practice of ghost brides in 'Bride Price', the fears of a mother for her son in 'Unpicked Stitching.
Christina Sng brings up supernatural revenge in Flat, The Visit and The Last Bus, respect for ancestors in The Offering and the place their ghosts still have in our lives.
Angela Yuriko Smith develops the strength of women in Four Willows Bound, the traditions of the Ryukyuan in Onarigami and Her Hajichi, her sense of difference in The Nukekubi.
In theory, I would list every poem - they all have something to say. In lieue of such a list, all I can say is buy - or borrow - but do read - this extraordinary and eye-opening collection
In the words of Angela Yuriko Smith in her poem, Four Willows Bound:
Four willows stood bound
in their sisterhood, in strength ---
unquiet, waiting
They are waiting for you.
September 24, 2021
This groundbreaking collaborative poetry collection penned by four talented poets of Southeast Asian heritage is as insightful as it is important. Tortured Willows challenges the reader to engage with imagery and issues through the authors’ lens, resulting in a body of work that explores themes of otherness, inequality, the duty-bound and virtue-bound, diaspora and displacement. Asian mythology, historical events, family narrative, and personal experience are the springboards that launch these poems into dark and disturbing directions that recognise and reflect what it truly means to be a ‘willow’. A mix of traditional, contemporary, and culturally-unique poetic forms have been deployed to convey themes of redemption and revenge, suffering and spirituality, cruelty and courage, delivering works that are raw and refreshingly different.
Thought-provoking, unapologetically brutal, and downright unsettling, Tortured Willows is a collection unlike any you’ve read before…and one you’re not likely to forget. Murray, Flynn, Smith and Sng have not just raised their voices, they’ve roared them into the pages, and the result is simply superb.
Thought-provoking, unapologetically brutal, and downright unsettling, Tortured Willows is a collection unlike any you’ve read before…and one you’re not likely to forget. Murray, Flynn, Smith and Sng have not just raised their voices, they’ve roared them into the pages, and the result is simply superb.
September 24, 2021
I had just posted a review of BLACK CRANES: TALES OF UNQUIET WOMEN, when I get a private message from Lee Murray thanking me for the review and offering me an ARC of TORTURED WILLOWS for review; and then I saw her description: “…60 poems and background vignettes…” I love all things written, but I never really understood, or actually liked, poetry. However, following that description was: “…by Christina Sng, Geneve Flynn, and Angela Yuriko Smith and myself.” Damn, Lee had just the right bait. With that line-up, and knowing it was a “sequel” to BLACK CRANES, I had to accept – I mean, the worst that could happen is I apologize and let Lee know it just wasn’t for me.
I read the first six poems and had to close the file. As I later wrote Lee, “…(of) all the books I’ve read, I don’t think I have EVER had such an emotional experience. The pain, the anguish, the mental and physical abuse - to call it heartbreaking is like calling the Pacific Ocean a puddle.” If that was after only one-tenth of the book, what in the world was I in for?
The book is broken into four sections. Fifteen poems each; and I found there to be a running theme with each author.
1) Lee Murray
Many of Lee’s poems angrily (and rightly so) take on things like, racism, sexism, and the lengths women go through to be accepted. EXQUISITE (the sixth poem) talks about a young woman literally breaking her body (with foot binding, and such) to “transform” herself into what her husband/boyfriend expects her to be – ultimately killing herself in the process.
I can only imagine what a cathartic release writing these poems was for her.
2) Geneve Flynn
Geneve also takes on racism, and sexism, but does so in a little subtler, and innovative way. For example, in “ABRIDGE”, she took Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison’s speech addressing sexual
misconduct in Parliament House, and blacked out much of it to move the focus to something more pertinent. GUEST OF HONOR was an absolutely amazing piece of artistry. Geneve wrote two separate, and complete, poems that when put side by side read as one. I applaud the talent necessary to pull off such a feat.
3) Christina SNG
Wow, Christina just scared the ever-loving hell out of me. Her stories revolve around revenge, both living and dead. In fact, the quote under her photo reads: “Daughter: Why are avenging ghosts all women? Mother: Because we have just cause.” She also holds the distinction of having my favorite poem – THE LAST BUS.
Christina added a lot of her beliefs, and fears, into the poems (as explained in the vignettes) and I learned a few things.
4) Angela Yuriko Smith
Now this is how you end such a powerful collection – with a little hope and lightness. I absolutely love learning about other customs, legends, and religions. Angela throws that all in, and her poems (for the most part) celebrate the upside of being an Asian woman. Like learning that in Okinawan society, women are celebrated for their ability to connect with the divine (and not burned at the stake). The fact that hajichi – a tattoo that symbolizes power – is making a comeback after being banned in 1899. It was also nice to see that the Ryukyu people are trying to rectify the injustice brought upon them by losing their country when the US gave Okinawa (something they didn’t own) to Japan after the war.
So how do you move on from this? I mean, you read the line, “and no good without a son” and realize the irony contained within – an Asian wife is useless unless she produces a son; yet genetics tells us that an embryo’s sex is determined by the male; and oh, if only male offspring are being sought after, who’s going to birth the next generation? Geneve takes this dilemma on in BRIDE PRICE explaining in the vignette how due to China’s one-child policy, many female infants are killed or abandoned; and this is causing a serious imbalance to find a mate. Contained within these covers are stories of women breaking their own bones to make themselves more attractive, and of the dead being offered a second chance at life – but turning it down because they can’t live that life.
I told Lee, it almost makes me ashamed to be associated with “white males” or Americans seeing how Asian woman have (are) been treated by those groups.
I do have to make a confession, however: I have always found Asian women quite beautiful, and Kristi Yamaguchi is on my “celebrity crush” list (I hope the lovely ladies within this book don’t hate me now).
This collection will hurt, there’s no doubt about that. It’s in the design, and poems that Lee chose. I hope it gets the traction, and exposure it so richly deserves, and it is my sincere hope that more attention is brought to the rampant, but severely downplayed (by both government and NEWS outlets), racism towards the Asian culture and its people.
I read the first six poems and had to close the file. As I later wrote Lee, “…(of) all the books I’ve read, I don’t think I have EVER had such an emotional experience. The pain, the anguish, the mental and physical abuse - to call it heartbreaking is like calling the Pacific Ocean a puddle.” If that was after only one-tenth of the book, what in the world was I in for?
The book is broken into four sections. Fifteen poems each; and I found there to be a running theme with each author.
1) Lee Murray
Many of Lee’s poems angrily (and rightly so) take on things like, racism, sexism, and the lengths women go through to be accepted. EXQUISITE (the sixth poem) talks about a young woman literally breaking her body (with foot binding, and such) to “transform” herself into what her husband/boyfriend expects her to be – ultimately killing herself in the process.
I can only imagine what a cathartic release writing these poems was for her.
2) Geneve Flynn
Geneve also takes on racism, and sexism, but does so in a little subtler, and innovative way. For example, in “ABRIDGE”, she took Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison’s speech addressing sexual
misconduct in Parliament House, and blacked out much of it to move the focus to something more pertinent. GUEST OF HONOR was an absolutely amazing piece of artistry. Geneve wrote two separate, and complete, poems that when put side by side read as one. I applaud the talent necessary to pull off such a feat.
3) Christina SNG
Wow, Christina just scared the ever-loving hell out of me. Her stories revolve around revenge, both living and dead. In fact, the quote under her photo reads: “Daughter: Why are avenging ghosts all women? Mother: Because we have just cause.” She also holds the distinction of having my favorite poem – THE LAST BUS.
Christina added a lot of her beliefs, and fears, into the poems (as explained in the vignettes) and I learned a few things.
4) Angela Yuriko Smith
Now this is how you end such a powerful collection – with a little hope and lightness. I absolutely love learning about other customs, legends, and religions. Angela throws that all in, and her poems (for the most part) celebrate the upside of being an Asian woman. Like learning that in Okinawan society, women are celebrated for their ability to connect with the divine (and not burned at the stake). The fact that hajichi – a tattoo that symbolizes power – is making a comeback after being banned in 1899. It was also nice to see that the Ryukyu people are trying to rectify the injustice brought upon them by losing their country when the US gave Okinawa (something they didn’t own) to Japan after the war.
So how do you move on from this? I mean, you read the line, “and no good without a son” and realize the irony contained within – an Asian wife is useless unless she produces a son; yet genetics tells us that an embryo’s sex is determined by the male; and oh, if only male offspring are being sought after, who’s going to birth the next generation? Geneve takes this dilemma on in BRIDE PRICE explaining in the vignette how due to China’s one-child policy, many female infants are killed or abandoned; and this is causing a serious imbalance to find a mate. Contained within these covers are stories of women breaking their own bones to make themselves more attractive, and of the dead being offered a second chance at life – but turning it down because they can’t live that life.
I told Lee, it almost makes me ashamed to be associated with “white males” or Americans seeing how Asian woman have (are) been treated by those groups.
I do have to make a confession, however: I have always found Asian women quite beautiful, and Kristi Yamaguchi is on my “celebrity crush” list (I hope the lovely ladies within this book don’t hate me now).
This collection will hurt, there’s no doubt about that. It’s in the design, and poems that Lee chose. I hope it gets the traction, and exposure it so richly deserves, and it is my sincere hope that more attention is brought to the rampant, but severely downplayed (by both government and NEWS outlets), racism towards the Asian culture and its people.
December 15, 2021
“In Tortured Willows, four Southeast Asian women writers of horror expand on the exploration of otherness begun with the Bram Stoker Award-winning anthology, Black Cranes: Tales of Unquiet Women.”
I recently had the pleasure of reading an advance copy of Tortured Willows: Bent. Bowed. Unbroken and it was every bit as beautiful to read as it was heartbreaking and passionate. Each offering brings with it deep raw emotion: loss, grief, sadness, despair, worthlessness, hopelessness, and anger. In direct contrast to this, their words also impart hope, pride, and courage to do more than survive, courage to overcome. Almost every poem is followed by a brief note from the author explaining the meaning, and origin of it.
Each poem and personal note combine to give the effect of a personal exploration into the memory of the author, into their heart, soul and bloodline to see what lies within. I have noted a few of my favorites and most heartbreaking below:
Lee Murray’s poem, Exquisite, is heartbreaking and haunting. A young woman desperate to please the man that has deemed her unworthy. Geneve Flynn’s, Bride Price, is a tragic shocking tale that speaks to the ghost marriage practice that thrives in China, wherein women are deemed more valuable as a corpse rather than alive.
In Christina Sng’s, Conversations With the Dead 1928, Death sits at a fresh grave of a young girl, gone too soon, before her time, but she begs to not go back. Even Death seems dismayed by her demise, choosing to allow these young spirits to choose, something they were not allowed in life.
Angela Yuriko Smith pens a beautifully written poem, Four Willows Bound, that symbolizes the four women that created this book, their triumphs overall, their strength that has kept them standing and enduring for decades. I found this to be a gorgeous tribute to these lovely ladies, and to the lovely willows everywhere, for whom this book is written.
The sheer act of creating this book is victory alone for what they have endured, experienced, and witnessed. Victory for them and a symbol for the thousands of bent but beautiful willows out there. As a female person of color, I was able to empathize with many of the words within these pages, having felt many of the same feelings of discrimination, loss of identity and worth. As a person outside of their culture, this collection also opened my eyes to the many hardships endured within their culture, at the hands of their own people, their own men and fathers, and their role models. There is strength in these pages, if you choose to see it. Courage, bravery and a deep fierceness that will not be silenced.
This is a Five-star collection, worthy of every accolade and collection.
I recently had the pleasure of reading an advance copy of Tortured Willows: Bent. Bowed. Unbroken and it was every bit as beautiful to read as it was heartbreaking and passionate. Each offering brings with it deep raw emotion: loss, grief, sadness, despair, worthlessness, hopelessness, and anger. In direct contrast to this, their words also impart hope, pride, and courage to do more than survive, courage to overcome. Almost every poem is followed by a brief note from the author explaining the meaning, and origin of it.
Each poem and personal note combine to give the effect of a personal exploration into the memory of the author, into their heart, soul and bloodline to see what lies within. I have noted a few of my favorites and most heartbreaking below:
Lee Murray’s poem, Exquisite, is heartbreaking and haunting. A young woman desperate to please the man that has deemed her unworthy. Geneve Flynn’s, Bride Price, is a tragic shocking tale that speaks to the ghost marriage practice that thrives in China, wherein women are deemed more valuable as a corpse rather than alive.
In Christina Sng’s, Conversations With the Dead 1928, Death sits at a fresh grave of a young girl, gone too soon, before her time, but she begs to not go back. Even Death seems dismayed by her demise, choosing to allow these young spirits to choose, something they were not allowed in life.
Angela Yuriko Smith pens a beautifully written poem, Four Willows Bound, that symbolizes the four women that created this book, their triumphs overall, their strength that has kept them standing and enduring for decades. I found this to be a gorgeous tribute to these lovely ladies, and to the lovely willows everywhere, for whom this book is written.
The sheer act of creating this book is victory alone for what they have endured, experienced, and witnessed. Victory for them and a symbol for the thousands of bent but beautiful willows out there. As a female person of color, I was able to empathize with many of the words within these pages, having felt many of the same feelings of discrimination, loss of identity and worth. As a person outside of their culture, this collection also opened my eyes to the many hardships endured within their culture, at the hands of their own people, their own men and fathers, and their role models. There is strength in these pages, if you choose to see it. Courage, bravery and a deep fierceness that will not be silenced.
This is a Five-star collection, worthy of every accolade and collection.
July 4, 2022
A powerful collection hugging the tortured willows of Asian heritage, folklore, historical and ripped from the news. The ladies reunited to bring a second verse that weeps the darkness, bleeds, sobs and raise from the dead. From spirits to ghost marriages, human meat buns and a haunted island these poetic pieces strive and symbolize the creation of horror in its essence.
Favorites:
Lee Murray
•Fox Girl
•The Girl with the Bellows
•Beyond Shouting Hill
•Fury
Geneve Flynn
•Her Gradual Hero
•Guest of Honor
•Bride Price
•What You Can Not See
Christina Sng
•Conversations with the Dead 1928
•I Left Too Late
•An Interlude with the Boarding House Owner
•Flat
•The Visit
Angela Yuriko Smith
•Kijimuna
•The Nukekubi
•Kayoda House
•Outside Chibichiri Gama
•Grandmother Shuffled
Favorites:
Lee Murray
•Fox Girl
•The Girl with the Bellows
•Beyond Shouting Hill
•Fury
Geneve Flynn
•Her Gradual Hero
•Guest of Honor
•Bride Price
•What You Can Not See
Christina Sng
•Conversations with the Dead 1928
•I Left Too Late
•An Interlude with the Boarding House Owner
•Flat
•The Visit
Angela Yuriko Smith
•Kijimuna
•The Nukekubi
•Kayoda House
•Outside Chibichiri Gama
•Grandmother Shuffled
February 16, 2022
TORTURED WILLOWS: BENT. BOWED. UNBROKEN is a poetry anthology from a powerhouse cast of writers/poets. It's loaded with Asian heritage, profoundly personal experiences, and the resilience of women. Culture clash vs. multiculturalism, erasure culture, identity, and systemic sexism are just a few themes mixed in to these poignant and brilliant poems. Often times, women are both the haunted and the ghosts. There are not enough words to convey how impressive and strong the words are on every page. A must-read, must-experience anthology!
May 10, 2022
Wow, this was SO good!!! I loved the variety here, and loved the personal anecdotes / author descriptions that went with their work. I love books that make me feel AND learn, and this one offered both emotions & facts about lots of things with which I'm not very personally familiar - so appreciated, and can't recommend it highly enough! Also really loved that there were different types of poems included here, and that the places those formats originated from were explained & details went into -- so cool!
Although there are a lot of really dark themes here, the overall language and writing is so, so beautiful. Definitely going to be looking into more work by each of the contributors!
Although there are a lot of really dark themes here, the overall language and writing is so, so beautiful. Definitely going to be looking into more work by each of the contributors!
July 17, 2022
While I found some of the imagery didn't quite work for me, the storytelling itself is exquisite. This book was a journey into poorly understood territory for me. I simultaneously found myself relating to the deeper theme of womanhood and its perils and traversing the new terrain of Asia and its legacies, some of them commendable, others unfortunate. I appreciated the explanation of the foreign concepts that were presented in the poems of this volume.
Tortured Willows echoes strength and perseverance and demands that we revisit everything we've been told- that we cast light into the dark places in ourselves, so that they made be healed. That's a message that we could use a little more of these days.
I recommend Tortured Willows to lovers of poetry, women, understanding. It is an important work that reminds us of what women endure, of why they endure. It is an account of what is so often kept alive for tradition's sake. If you're ready to start asking the hard questions and feel prepared to look into the darkest shadows of that room in yourself where you never quite dare to go, this is the book for you.
Tortured Willows echoes strength and perseverance and demands that we revisit everything we've been told- that we cast light into the dark places in ourselves, so that they made be healed. That's a message that we could use a little more of these days.
I recommend Tortured Willows to lovers of poetry, women, understanding. It is an important work that reminds us of what women endure, of why they endure. It is an account of what is so often kept alive for tradition's sake. If you're ready to start asking the hard questions and feel prepared to look into the darkest shadows of that room in yourself where you never quite dare to go, this is the book for you.
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May 14, 2024Stunning
This book contains poetry from 4 different Asian women. It reflects on resilience, they will to not only remain but to thrive... despite a background of suffering.
Enduring women, like the willow, bending and weeping but resilient and strong and holding onto hope.
I enjoyed both the introduction to the poets and the reflection at the end of each poem explaining where the inspiration came from.
The poems themselves are hauntingly beautiful and stunning. They're expressive and weighty in capturing the essence and plight of some Asian women.
If I had read a few here and there I would have stood and applauded their brilliance and important message, however, I read them all together and ended up being overwhelmed with the macabre and sad fate of the women in the poems.
Truly a fantastic book of poetry though.
This book contains poetry from 4 different Asian women. It reflects on resilience, they will to not only remain but to thrive... despite a background of suffering.
Enduring women, like the willow, bending and weeping but resilient and strong and holding onto hope.
I enjoyed both the introduction to the poets and the reflection at the end of each poem explaining where the inspiration came from.
The poems themselves are hauntingly beautiful and stunning. They're expressive and weighty in capturing the essence and plight of some Asian women.
If I had read a few here and there I would have stood and applauded their brilliance and important message, however, I read them all together and ended up being overwhelmed with the macabre and sad fate of the women in the poems.
Truly a fantastic book of poetry though.
November 10, 2021
Poets write what others cannot say. From four of the voices behind the multi-award winning Black Cranes: Tales of Unquiet Women, this collection of chilling and immense beauty gives voice to the everyday horror that spans generations. These intimate visions are both profoundly personal and unfettered in their universality; and the verses sing to our collective ancestry, setting the branches of our family trees trembling. If you loved Black Cranes, you know the power and fury of these writers. Here, words are distilled and precise as a boning knife.
May 4, 2022
Highly recommended collection of poetry from a stellar lineup of writers. Themes of family, history, anger, displacement, and more.
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June 17, 2023A collection as heartbreaking as it is inspiring--delicate, disruptive, and divine.
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