Trsitia by Carmen Bugan parenthood history and poetic influences with

history and poetic influences with the contemporary queer experience

‘This second collection by the China-born poet continues his exploration of family – both blood and chosen – examining what one inherits and what one invents as a queer Asian American living through the era of Trump

juxtaposing the hunger for flight with the longing for family and home

as well as the further long-term health risks lurking in the background

Trsitia by Carmen Bugan parenthood history and poetic influences withIn Tristia, Carmen Bugan tests the lyric against loss once again, as everything collapses around her, but this time much closer to home. These are poems about forging a stronger self in the fires of her lifetime, whether they are the forest fires that cover the American continent, the war in Ukraine, or her own world turned to ashes. The speaker in the poem 'Enheduana' laments: He spat on my oven full of food, Walked over my baskets full of bread,