Not Here

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Not Here
"Not Here" by Hieu Minh Nguyen Book Cover.png
Author Hieu Minh Nguyen
Publisher Coffee House Press
Publication date
April 10, 2018
Pages120
Award Publishing Triangle Thom Gunn Award for Gay Poetry
ISBN 978-1566895095
Preceded byThis Way to the Sugar 

Not Here is a 2018 poetry collection by Vietnamese American poet Hieu Minh Nguyen, published by Coffee House Press. Its included poems address topics such as queer Vietnamese American identity, body politics, trauma, family, and solitude. [1] Nominated for several awards, the book won the Publishing Triangle Thom Gunn Award for Gay Poetry in 2019. [2]

Contents

Content

Centered around Nguyen's experiences as a queer Vietnamese American, the book's poems span personal subject matter such as his childhood, as well as the trauma and abuse which he suffered earlier in his life. Poems like "Mother" and "Lesson" stemmed from hs specific relationships with his mother and father. [3] Some of the book's poems, such as "Notes on Staying", were performed live for slam poetry, the poetry scene where Nguyen first got involved as an upcoming poet in the Twin Cities, specifically on the Button Poetry stage. Several of the poems also address Nguyen's changing relationship to the Twin Cities metro area, "whether to leave or stay." [4]

Critical reception

In addition to the Publishing Triangle Thom Gunn Award in Gay Poetry, the book was a finalist for the Lambda Literary Award for Gay Poetry. [5]

In a starred review, Publishers Weekly wrote that "Nguyen communicates with stunning clarity the ambivalence of shame, how it can commandeer one's life and become almost a comfort." The publication also chose the book for their Editors' Pick for the Best New Books. [6]

Stephanie Burt, in The New York Times, called it a "concise and unsettling second book of poems" and, with regard to his representation of pain, said "very few could do what Nguyen has done." [7] Major Jackson, for Poets.org, noted "the intense sense of longing and hunger that pulses at the center of his poems". [8] Alexander Chee called the book "essential", and The Adroit Journal said "There is clarity in this grief—a realization of the full value of what has been lost, and in that clarity, at least, some sense of peace." [9]

diaCRITICS, the publication of the Diasporic Vietnamese Artists Network, wrote that "Nguyen’s poems brilliantly replay the nightmare of how all traumas are connected; how one trauma leads to another and another and another; and how the abused body, when separate from the self, becomes a possession sometimes precious and sometimes despised, can self-destruct and cease its desire to live." [10] Muzzle Magazine noted its "edge of clarity and urgency" reminiscent of Sharon Olds. [11]

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References

  1. Nguyen, Hieu Minh (April 10, 2018). Not Here. Coffee House Press. ISBN   978-1566895095.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: date and year (link)
  2. "The Thom Gunn Award for Gay Poetry". The Publishing Triangle. Retrieved 2024-10-30.
  3. Dao, Hana (2023-04-13). "How '8 Mile' inspired Hieu Minh Nguyen to write poems on queerness" . Retrieved 2024-10-30.
  4. Tormoen, Erik (2019-01-31). "The Dark, Masterful Poems of Hieu Minh Nguyen". Minnesota Monthly. Retrieved 2024-10-30.
  5. "Previous Winners". Lambda Literary. Retrieved 2024-10-30.
  6. "Not Here by Hieu Minh Nguyen". www.publishersweekly.com. Retrieved 2024-10-30.
  7. Burt, Stephanie (June 18, 2018). "A Hard Childhood Compressed Into Poetry, With Concision and Heat". The New York Times .
  8. Jackson, Major. "Not Here". Poets.org. Retrieved 2024-10-30.
  9. Findley, Ally (2019-01-18). "Absence and Other Inheritances: A Review of Hieu Minh Nguyen's Not Here - The Adroit Journal" . Retrieved 2024-10-30.
  10. Nguyen, Anh-hoa Thi (2018-06-07). "Book Review: Hieu Minh Nguyen's 'Not Here' - DVAN" . Retrieved 2024-10-30.
  11. Bain, C. "Review - Hieu Minh Nguyen". MUZZLE MAGAZINE. Retrieved 2024-10-30.