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][non-primary source needed] Nominated for several awards, the book won the Publishing Triangle's Thom Gunn Award for Gay Poetry in 2019.
 | |
| Author | Hieu Minh Nguyen |
|---|---|
| Publisher | Coffee House Press |
Publication date | April 10, 2018 |
| Pages | 120 |
| Award | Publishing Triangle Thom Gunn Award for Gay Poetry |
| ISBN | 978-1566895095 |
| Preceded by | This Way to the Sugar |
Content
editCentered 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.[2] 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."[3]
Critical reception
editIn 2019, Not Here won the Publishing Triangle's Thom Gunn Award in Gay Poetry,[4][5] and was a finalist for the Lambda Literary Award for Gay Poetry.[6]
In a starred review, Publishers Weekly wrote, "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.[7]
Stephanie Burt, writing for The New York Times, called Not Here 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."[8] Major Jackson, for Poets.org, noted "the intense sense of longing and hunger that pulses at the center of his poems".[9] Alexander Chee called the book "essential",[citation needed] 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."[10]
diaCRITICS, the publication of the Diasporic Vietnamese Artists Network, wrote, "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."[11]
Muzzle Magazine noted its "edge of clarity and urgency" reminiscent of Sharon Olds.[12]
References
edit- ^ Nguyen, Hieu Minh (April 10, 2018). Not Here. Coffee House Press. ISBN 978-1566895095.
{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: date and year (link) - ^ Dao, Hana (April 13, 2023). "How '8 Mile' inspired Hieu Minh Nguyen to write poems on queerness". The Stanford Daily. Retrieved October 30, 2024.
- ^ Tormoen, Erik (January 31, 2019). "The Dark, Masterful Poems of Hieu Minh Nguyen". Minnesota Monthly. Retrieved October 30, 2024.
- ^ "The Thom Gunn Award for Gay Poetry". The Publishing Triangle. Retrieved October 30, 2024.
- ^ Maher, John (April 26, 2019). "This Year's Triangle Award Winners Announced". Publishers Weekly. Archived from the original on May 5, 2019. Retrieved May 20, 2024.
- ^ "31st Annual Lammy Finalists". Lambda Literary. March 7, 2019. Archived from the original on January 24, 2022. Retrieved February 16, 2022.
- ^ "Not Here by Hieu Minh Nguyen". Publishers Weekly. March 19, 2018. Retrieved October 30, 2024.
- ^ Burt, Stephanie (June 18, 2018). "A Hard Childhood Compressed Into Poetry, With Concision and Heat". The New York Times. Retrieved November 6, 2024.
- ^ Jackson, Major. "Not Here". Poets.org. Retrieved October 30, 2024.
- ^ Findley, Ally (January 18, 2019). "Absence and Other Inheritances: A Review of Hieu Minh Nguyen's Not Here". The Adroit Journal. Retrieved October 30, 2024.
- ^ Nguyen, Anh-hoa Thi (June 7, 2018). "Book Review: Hieu Minh Nguyen's 'Not Here' - DVAN". diaCRITICS. Diasporic Vietnamese Artists Network. Retrieved October 30, 2024.
- ^ Bain, C. "Review - Hieu Minh Nguyen". MUZZLE MAGAZINE. Retrieved October 30, 2024.