I began my writing life as a poet of loss and grief. “Under the Tamarind Tree” is an early example of this. The poem is about a memory I had of my mother on her death bed. In Pol Pot’s times, religion was abolished, monks disrobed, and religious practices eradicated. But in this poem, I gave my mother a proper funeral rite. Poetry’s power, thus, lies in resistance and reclamation: here, an orphan brings justice to his dead mother.
Bunkong Tuon on "Under the Tamarind Tree" |
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Lena Khalaf Tuffaha on National Book Award Win
"The National Book Award judges’ citation for Something About Living says the book 'opens with a single bird and ends in a dazzling meteor shower, and in between lies something of a marvel—an electric and sobering song crackling with possibilities for a homeland fractured and besieged by Empire.' Tuffaha was deeply moved by that citation. 'I really felt like my book had been thoughtfully read. And that’s a gift.'"
viaTHE SEATTLE TIMES |
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What Sparks Poetry:
Vincent Toro on Language as Form
"Form is not merely shape, it’s concept. It’s not merely a concept, it is a vessel for culture that transmits the values and ways of a people....When our own forms are marginalized or entirely ignored while an oppressor culture forcefully imposes their own forms on us, some of us are going to act reflexively to such an action, and some of us are going to make it a mission to reclaim our own forms and create space for them to be appreciated and respected in equal proportion. This is, in part, the reason for my devotion to the décima." |
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