A review by billyjepma
The Phoenix Gone, the Terrace Empty by Marilyn Chin

4.0

If I was giving this an honest “rating”—which is difficult to do with poetry—I think I’d settle somewhere around 3.5 stars, but I’ll round up to 4 here. Chin’s poetry is difficult, often obtuse, and sometimes frustrating in the walls it seems to erect. Her writing is superb, and she is at once evocative and affecting in her style. But she frames her work in such a way that it can feel like it’s trying to keep me out, and even as I want to dig into the undeniable depth of her poetry, the content and thematics sometimes seems to erect walls around itself that make it hard to get truly invested.

Nevertheless, even the poems I failed to interpret were still compelling, and the pieces that hit me hit very, very hard. The emotional, political, and personal nuances are stunning when they’re able to fully connect with the reader, and for those moments of sudden, brilliant comprehension, this collection is worth investing in.