Gaze Back / Marylyn Tan / 2018
A deliciously subversive and playful poetry collection by a feminist Chinese Singoporean author. I read the collection curious about learning more about Chinese LGBT culture. While the collection accesses queerness largely using Western language, it still includes plenty of poems unpacking Eastern folk traditions, gender norms and the like. Rife with puns, spicy imagery and emotional bungee jumps, the collection did not disappoint with its rigor and recklessness. My favorite poems included one that rewrote Christ as a teenage girl, which if written by an undergrad would likely be intolerably hackneyed and overwrought, but is somehow pulled off with majesty and flare here. 4/5