Steep Tea
Published on 1. January 2015
72 pages
978-1-78410-046-9 (ISBN)
Description
Singapore-born poet Jee Leong Koh's first book to be published in Great Britain is rich in detail of the worlds he explores and invents as he follows his desire for an unknown other, moving tentatively, passionately, always uncertain of himself. His language is colloquial, musical, aware of the infusion of various traditions and histories. 'You go where? / I'm going from the latterly to the litany, from writs to rites.' The poems share many of the harsh and enriching circumstances that shape the imagination of a postcolonial queer writer. Taking leaves from other poets -- Emilia Lanyer, Eavan Boland, Xunka' Utz'utz' Ni', Lee Tzu Pheng -- Koh creates a text that is distinctively his own.
Reviews / Votes
'The Singapore-born poet's first UK publication is disciplined yet adventurous in form, casual in tone and deeply personal in subject matter. Koh's verse addresses the split inheritance of his postcolonial upbringing , as well as the tension between an mmigr''s longing for home and rejection of nostalgia' The Financial Times 28.11.2015More details
Language
English
Place of publication
Chicago
United Kingdom
Publishing group
Carcanet Press Ltd
File size
0,29 MB
ISBN-13
978-1-78410-046-9 (9781784100469)
Copyright in bibliographic data and cover images is held by Nielsen Book Services Limited or by the publishers or by their respective licensors: all rights reserved.
Schweitzer Classification
Other editions
Additional editions
Person
Jee Leong Koh is the author of Steep Tea (Carcanet), named a Best Book of the Year by UK's Financial Times and a Finalist by Lambda Literary in the USA. His hybrid work of fiction, Snow at 5 PM: Translations of an insignificant Japanese poet, won the Singapore Literature Prize in English fiction. He was also shortlisted for the prize for The Pillow Book (Math Paper Press/Awai Books), Connor and Seal (Sibling Rivalry), Sample and Loop (Bench Press), and Inspector Inspector (Carcanet). Koh's work has been translated into Japanese, Chinese, Malay, Vietnamese, Russian, and Latvian. Originally from Singapore, Koh lives in New York City, where he heads the literary non-profit Singapore Unbound.
Content
- Cover
- Title Page
- Dedication
- Contents
- Eve's Fault
- The Rooms I Move In
- Found Poem
- St Thomas Preaching in Hell's Kitchen
- You Know, Don't You
- The Wine Bottle Holder
- Backache
- A Whole History
- Useless
- The Xpakinté and the Drunk
- The Clocks
- Gorgeous Unfinished Wood Braced in Grey Iron
- Portrait with Blue Shirt
- For Lust
- domed/doomed/deem'd
- Broccoli
- Easter
- Quiet, please-
- Fall: Five Poems
- Paragraph
- Suddenly, in Sweden
- What the River Says
- Kinder Feelings
- Recognition
- Attribution
- Novenary with Hens
- The Children and the Swans
- Woodwork
- The Hospital Lift
- Talking to Koon Meng Who Called Himself Christopher
- Bougainvillea
- Ashtrays as Big as Hubcaps
- Reversi, Also Called Othello
- In His Other House
- Haibun
- Carp Swimming
- Temple Art
- Hong Kong
- Black Dragon Pool
- Dragonfly
- Steep Tea
- In Death As In Life
- Singapore Buses Are Very Reliable
- Singapore Catechism
- Litany
- Airplane Poems
- Notes
- Acknowledgements
- Bibliography
- Copyright
