Poetry Book Review: Night Sky with Exit Wounds by Ocean Vuong

´America. America a row of streetlights flickering on his whiskey´.

 

A memoir in verses can be much evocative than the usual prose. Ocean Vuong strong debut Night Sky with Exit Wounds that I´ve read in the bilingual English-German edition translated by Anne-Kristin Mittag as Nachthimmel mit Austrittwunden is my proof.

Vuong, mentored by poet and novelist Ben Lerner, collects his memories and the memories of his people, about love and being in love. Abous his mother and the corpse of his father. About heart beats and bodies. (´There´s nothing more holy than holding a man´s heartbeat between your teeth, sharpened with too much air´). Shadows of missiles and 9/11. 

The strict rule of prose do not apply to poetry. Or maybe I am not ready to apply it. Or to apply any rules at all for poetry for the time being. I am, after all, just a beginner in reading and judging and criticizing poetry. I prefer to simply immerse into the words and go with the flow. Poetry is a fine jewellery art, especially compared to the moment when one needs to check the clarity of a diamond. Wordsmitting is the poet´s work. Mine is to take a big gulp of words and enjoy every bit of it. 

Night Sky.. is not an easy journey. As a reader, you are took into someone else´ story without a clear destination. Even the author himself is not sure about it. Someday I´ll love Ocean Vuong he writes. 

I love bilingual poetry, as it helps the best learning languages. When both languages are not your mother tongue it operates at a double level, enriching both languages or at least revealing new meanings. In this respect, poetry can do much better than any other genre.