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Open Books: Events
June 18, 2009 07:30 PM
VICTORIA CHANG
A remarkable strength underpins Victoria Chang’s visceral second collection, Salvinia Molesta ($16.95 Univ. of Georgia). Its often difficult subjects -- the darker side of 20th century Chinese history, infidelity, contemporary corporate corruption -- are presented fearlessly with poetic grace. Powerful imagery makes hard facts vivid, as in these lines from “Seven Stages of Genocide,” -- “near the covered ditches, only / an ocean keeps confessing / starfish to shore.” The title poem begins with an exploration of “the world’s worst weed,” then shifts its attention to the world of high finance, where the author worked, and to a former boss who was accused and acquitted of obstruction of justice, a piece that deftly illuminates the complexities of desire -- “I wanted a blue shirt like his. // I wanted objects but not their shadows.” Throughout the collection she faces her topics without flinching -- “I am gardening, but my mind is tilling.”
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