Griffin Poetry Prize 2017
Canadian Shortlist
Book: Violet Energy Ingots
Poet: Hoa Nguyen
Publisher: Wave Books
Hoa Nguyen reads Eve and Digressive Parenthesis
Eve
I could be naked and eating
figs Instead I’m a rib-woman
howling and chased
by a winged god-babyMy man is embarrassed
kicked out
of the world-garden
to become farmersDigressive Parenthesis
Make heart-shaped cakes
for the Queen of HeavenThings that make you cry:
Geode stone pulseThat plant named wizard’s herb
When the state of Michigan sells“pristine treaty-protected land”
to make a limestone mineI dreamt the spider crossed
my eye and I crushed itinto my eye Why is the first
day the hardest day? The citysusurrus Are us especially
if you get to keep the moneyFrom Violet Energy Ingots by Hoa Nguyen
Copyright © 2016 by Hoa Nguyen