Judge’s Citation by Hoa Nguyen


This poem moves with the tension and demands of narrative and syntax on the one hand and the registers of speech and forms of address on the other. At once tangential yet direct, the pleasure and depth resides in the off balancing of language and its tone, packed with precision, particulars, and the unexpected. Political and personal, the poem’s meditation confronts while making space for its readers’ alertness and we’re held there.