Nam Le’s short story collection TheBoat received the PEN/MalamudAward, the Anisfield-Wolf BookAward, the Dylan Thomas Prize, thePrime Minister’s Literary Award, andthe Melbourne Prize for Literature.His poetry has been publishedin American Poetry Review, The ParisReview, BOMB and elsewhere. Thepoems in this sequence are drawnfrom 36 Ways of Writing a VietnamesePoem, his debut book of poetry,which will be published in 2024. Lelives in Melbourne.
[10. Reclamatory: 1]
Me chink but not so fast withconsole or condemn, me chinked,self-chinked in pidgyhole & niche,notch cranny-hole creft crack—cramped in here it is, & humid,is just dey in my mouth, says she,so ray back on bed, hang backhead, jop jaw, unkink dat magicpassage, straight & true, pink shutuppromise past da jag & glint & hard Ogorgeous gorge for gorgèd dinkynot-too-thinky chink-head O &O & O O…