Sliced Fruit and Other Love Languages

In Chinese culture, love is not always expressed through fond words or an affectionate touch. For those who did not grow up in a bi-cultural household, our love may seem unfamiliar, at times, even distant. It does not boast or talk loudly but lives in the silences between unspoken words and the subtle acts of service that often go unnoticed and without thanks. To me, to my sister, and to the many children who grew up in immigrant households, love looks as simple as a bowl of perfectly cut fruit after dinner. It is a mother's selfless act of peeling and plucking all pits and skins, removing any hardness and leaving only the sweet softness of a piece of fruit. It is only ever eating the leftover flesh from the rind to keep the best parts for her children. Sliced Fruit and Other Love Languages is a collection of poetry that speaks to the friction and beauty of the Asian diaspora experience. Split into three lessons from childhood: Love Is Tolerant, Love Is Strong, and Love is Kind, the book grapples with the intricacies of affection, the trauma of generational and cultural dissonance, and the sacrifice of a mother's love. It tells the tale of how these formative experiences, seemingly big or small, manifest themselves in strange and sometimes even painful ways. This book breathes truth into Chelsea's own journey, in hopes that telling one woman's story can help even one person feel less alone in theirs.