cover image Sanctuary

Sanctuary

Adrienne Su, . . Manic D, $13.95 (62pp) ISBN 978-1-933149-06-6

Su's debut gained her attention as a poet of Chinese-American identity; keeping one eye on her heritage, this clear, even conversational sophomore effort has an altogether wider scope. The strongest poems consider her recent pregnancy and motherhood. "In the Maternity Shop" complains that such stores infantilize their customers: "Just when we feel least like ourselves,/ our selves are remade in the image/ of fourth graders, as if what we did to get here/ took place in immaculate ignorance." Poems about domestic troubles place Su in a line of frustrated, and yet loving, parents: "Everyone's mother could have been someone." Other poems deal with broad themes, such as the problems a contemporary woman might incur searching the English literary canon for useful wisdom: "it's not," she says, "that it gives no instructions for shopping or cooking." Su (Middle Kingdom , 1997) rhymes with ease, never detracting from the accessibility she seeks. "Subway riders" rhymes with "Ann Landers," "Evian" with "Puritan"; even Su's sestina sounds gentle and rueful (not virtuosic or forced). New moms in their twenties and thirties, along with fans of accessible poets like Jane Shore or Billy Collins, seeking poems for and about their own lives are likely to find them here. (June)