Obits.

by Tess Liem

WINNER OF THE 2019 GERALD LAMPERT MEMORIAL AWARD

In Obits. a speaker tries and fails to write obituaries for those whose memorials are missing, those who are represented only as statistics. She considers victims of mass deaths, fictional characters, and her own aunt, asking what does it mean to be an 'I' mourning a 'you' when both have been othered? Centring vulnerability, the various answers to this question pass through trauma, depression, and the experience of being a mixed-race queer woman.

Genres: Poetry, Canadian Literature, LGBT, Canada

105 pages, Paperback

First published October 16, 2018

Reviews

[reejy · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5 stars

Obits. was clearly very carefully crafted. The collection works and flows really well, the flow between poems really adds to the experience of reading them.

The poems here are not very complex, but I think they work well in their simplicity. Though I probably would have enjoyed the collection more if there was more complexity to some of the poems, I still believe that it is done well and its more simplistic nature also benefited it in some ways.

While I do have some favourite lines and poems, I think the collection as a whole impacted me more than anything I can particularly pick out from it, because it really is an interesting and thoughtful exploration of identity and its various crossroads with death/grief.

I'm definitely going to be picking up Liem's newer poetry collection soon.





On the toilet poetry shelf: I call it toilet poetry because I most often read poetry on the toilet not because it's bad lol. It's just my general, all-encompassing poetry shelf.

[Amber Dawn · Rating 5 out of 5]

Through a close read of Obits, I truly witnessed how personal, collective and cultural grief can be handled with precision and care—both aesthetic and emotional care. I admire liem’s braiding themes of massive, public and unresolved grief together with the poet’s own exploration of diasporic loss. It’s this braiding of public and personal grief that gives Obits. tension and nuance.

[Wei Chang · Rating 4 out of 5]

It is much lighter than I thought, with the selection of words so close to our daily conversation, and a tone like her own voice.
When I was reading the first few pieces I thought it would be quite experimental; the italic, the fragments of a phrase, the bracket, the notes, and other features made the style of the poem a little bit unconventional, yet after reading into the hidden sound of the lines what emerged was a mild protest that is very honest yet moving.
There is a sort of minimalism in it; I don't see too much complexity and rhetoric in it, but the emotions and aesthetics are like an aftertaste adhere to my memory.
It was beautifully written and should be hears like echos when you are alone.

[Jasmine · Rating 5 out of 5]

In this collection Tess Liem uses the framework of obituaries to explore queer personhood, feminism, the body, grief and memory. In one poem Liem writes, “I am trying to figure out a way to want to be in the world.” In another, “To speak as if we all share the same loveliness, the same doom, is not to speak of the fact that some people have their hands around other’s necks”

Liem writes with this kind of vulnerability, clarity and honesty about the compexity of human relationships; the way strangers on a train platform feel like old friends and relatives like strangers.

This is a must read collection by a an exciting voice in contemporary poetry.

[Elliot · Rating 3 out of 5]

Liem has assembled a collection of poems in conversation with one another, and what a conversation. Liem spins a eulogy for both known and unknown women, as well as herself, within a world where women are nameless and forgotten. Sparse in language yet striking, these poems are simultaneously grounded and emotional. A feminist rumination I will be thinking on for quite some time.

Many thanks to the publisher for the review copy.

[Kier Scrivener]

Like most poetry collections there are poems I absolutely adore and ones I didn't quite get. The ones on her being between two cultures, on grief, on mourning an aunt who she barely knew, on eating food and not knowing history, on her revising stories and loneliness worked well for me, some of the others that were about her commute and various other topics, including many of her 'obit' poems didn't work for me.

I think I will continue to think about some of the poems for a long time.

[Sierra · Rating 5 out of 5]

Not sure what to say about this one yet. Conversational yet powerful. Vignettes of intersectional identity, sometimes bold and sometimes subtle - the overall effect was beautifully balanced. I found myself wanting to highlight several impactul lines but remembering I have a borrowed copy. Will be getting my own to reference over and over I think 😊

[Jessi · Rating 5 out of 5]

The plant on its side
not something you can just pick up

& how its leaves underwent
winter, green & glossy,

was not like nothing.
I will not turn her into a plant.

I will not unearth her
like that.

Stop looking into the dirt, asking
did grief knock me over


or did it not pick me up.

[Erin · Rating 5 out of 5]

I don't read a lot of contemporary poetry, but I really enjoyed Obits. There were several parts which were so relatable I couldn't help but share them with people around me.

[Eileen · Rating 5 out of 5]

Simultaneously heartbreaking and reparative. Tess’s writing is so strong and subtle and necessary. I want more and more.

[John · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is excellent. It moves in a way that makes these poems feel so quietly harrowing, and I love how the book is at once obsessive and yet contains multiple thematic and formal strains. I particularly love the longer poems/sequences.

[E · Rating 5 out of 5]

Hard to rate poetry, but this was precise, gorgeous, and haunting. I'll return to it often.

[Hannah · Rating 5 out of 5]

“who knows how long/ I shook the dust off my sweater”

[Jacob Hoefer]

I can't rate this one yet, it hasn't all set in. I deffinitly liked it a lot and has some pretty powerful passages about death (particularly dead/missing women) all I can say right now is it made me feel a lot in a lot of ways