Welcome to Litsy!

While there were quite a few poems in this collection that my brain didn‘t quite parse, there were many more with stunning formats and vivid storytelling power. My favorites were this Amazon shopping history poem that tells a story (content warning for terminal illness), and one in which the poet rewinds backward through his entire life, capturing significant moments as points observed through a reverse timeline. #Poetry

So funny and true.

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️💫

I‘m not a huge poetry fan, but Ocean Vuong gets me everytime. Some poems hit harder than others. While not as good as Night Sky With Exit Wounds, I really enjoyed this.

Hearing him speak in 2022 transformed the way I think about poetry and he was very insistent that everyone can be a writer/poet - you just have to write! It really inspired me.

#lgbtqia2025
#litsycrafters - the crochet blanket I made is getting a lot of use.

I am not a poetry reader. That's on me, definitely not Ocean Vuong. There were some lines I thought were quite lovely.

I'm winning even / if it just looks like / my fingers are shaking

Nobody's free without breaking open

I was made to die but I'm here to stay

It seems to me like a roller coaster. The speaker moves from gutwrenching despair to the heights of victory. Maybe. #QueerBC @PuddleJumper
There's death. Then dancing.

A powerful collection of poetry following Vuong‘s journey of grief after the loss of his mother.

Incisive and sometimes brutal, this is a wonderful collection. But for me, Dear Rose was the strongest poem, by far, and actually brought me to tears & ended up with me texting my mother to let her know I love her. 🌕🌕🌕🌕🌑

This is a section from “Reasons for Staying,“ my favorite poem from this. You can read the full poem here: https://griffinpoetryprize.com/poem/reasons-for-staying-vuong/

I definitely didn't get all of these poems, but even the bits and pieces I did were powerful and evocative.

#QueerBC #NationalPoetryMonth

These poems really unsettled me. The stories Vuong tells here hit me deep and more than once I could relate to the texts. What an impressive writer he is. His voice vibrates and resonates with my soul. Deeply.

#queerbc @PuddleJumper

Yep. Definitely enough 🙃

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Absolutely love his poems.

I picked this up during #hyggehour last night and read most of it in one sitting. I‘ve been intimidated to read On Earth We‘re Briefly Gorgeous, and starting with his poetry felt more familiar. Now I want to read everything he‘s written! This was a comforting read for me. Pain mixed with beauty. The kind of spare writing that shuts out distractions and doesn‘t leave room to get lost in despair.

I'm willing to have my thoughts on this book disregarded as my tendency towards impatience in the face of incomprehension in the genre of poetry has reasserted itself for most of this volume. 'Dear Rose' I got like a gut punch, but most of the time it was like peeking in an art gallery window, glimpsing the creative result, but knowing you're not getting the full picture. 🤷🏼‍♂️ Lovely phrasing, some hard topics. 1/?

Book = artifact of one's thinking.
I like it. It's where the person's creativity, their head space was at, at a certain point in time. It doesn't speak for the author beyond this.

Eloquent rage? Or sadness?
Resignation?
Phrasing sticks with you, regardless.

I enjoyed parts of this .. i can't say that it was my absolute favorite tho

My husband loves poetry and asked me to read this with him. It was a quick read with different poetry styles. I did not fully understand all of the poem since not a poetry person. Some poems I re-read to get the message and I have a feeling if I read the whole thing again I would come to understand it better. I give it 3 ⭐️

#bookspin #2 @TheAromaofBooks

This is my first time reading Ocean Vuong. I don‘t know how to review a poetry collection as this, it‘s something so personal and written with such honesty. I won‘t say they‘re beautiful; but one can feel his pain and cold anger. The ones about the loss of his mother were touching. Others felt unfocused and I was lost. I‘ll probably still give On Earth We‘re Briefly Gorgeous a try.

I've read previous poems by Vuong and this collection shows a lot of maturity in the writing. Vuong paints powerful imagery with his words and overall this is a really strong collection.

Started this one a few weeks ago, finally got through it. I'm not 💯 into the author's narration, there's something about all the stops that made it feel grating but the feelings and images he creates with his words are great and very heartbreaking, really enjoyed this

Earlier this afternoon I came across Ocean Vuong's Old Glory from the tagged book online. A compilation of bravado phrases, it slyly comments on the aggressive nature of certain vocabulary. I read Vuong's debut Night Sky w/ Exit Wounds when it was published & was admittedly a bit underwhelmed by the much hyped collection. I noticed that the library next to my office had his latest on the shelves & as I'm currently waiting for a delivery to one 👇

Some recent acquisitions. Do you have a favourite among these? What should I read next?

A beautiful collection of atmospheric and powerful poems that manage to be both sad and hopeful. Shifting perspectives, snips of memory, a gorgeous homage to Vuong‘s mother and family and most of all, to himself. Stunning, I‘ll be thinking of some of these for a long time. Great on #audio and read by the author. #pride #poetry

I truly enjoy Vuong‘s writing and think he‘s so talented. That being said, I had difficulty connecting with his writing or themes. I‘ll read his next, but this missed the mark for me.

“Because the fairy tales were right. You‘ll need sorcery to make it out of here.”

- 4⭐️

Everything this incredible human rights is fantastic!

This collection is steeped in grief and loss and memories of the past. I am not a big poetry reader and much of it felt a bit over my head, but I‘m fairly certain the deficiency is mine and not the author‘s. Even though I struggled, there were definitely some affecting moments and I appreciate Vuong‘s unique voice.

What if it wasn't the crash that made us, but the debris?

In a word: melancholic
More words, more do to with me than the book: For some reason, all the while I was anticipating this book‘s release, I had no idea it was poetry. Probably because I hate spoilers and rarely read the book‘s synopsis if it‘s an author I know I‘ll want to read anyway…? Anyhoo, did not see the poetry part, just the Ocean Vuong part and would have been less excited because poetry is typically not my thing.

Those of us who have read Vuong's previous works will be familiar with his mother, and she died of cancer in 2019. So some of these poems deal with grief, also recovery, rural realities, family, and more. I listened to the audio of the poet reading them while reading the eARC and Ocean is a very small statured person with a quiet voice, but it's deceptive because his words always pack a punch.

Started off Poetry Month with this amazing collection that isn't actually released until Tuesday, but Barnes and Noble sold it to me yesterday.

Like his debut Night Sky with Exit Wounds, this collection shows the creative power and passionate humanity of an exciting new poet. Intimate and personal while also reaching for bold statements about the world we live in - war, sex, love, death, failure, beauty. This is a collection that will haunt you long after you read it. Highly recommended.

[I received an advanced e-galley of this book through Netgalley; due to be released April 5, 2022.]