Burnt Offerings

Rating:
Summary: A bold but gentle poetic voice
Review: I first encountered one of Timothy Liu's poems in an anthology, and was impressed enough to seek out further work of his. "Burnt Offerings" is a collection of his poetry. A significant part of the book reflects a gay Asian male perspective. There are a number of religious references and allusions, and a number of graphic evocations of gay sex.

The book is dominated by two longer poems, "With Chaos in Each Kiss" (13 pages long) and "Naked" (10 pages); these are tender, sad poems about the aftermath of a relationship between the speaker and a musician. I was intrigued by Liu's yoking of the motifs of performing arts and love. These two poems really read like they were written by someone who has been there and experienced such love and loss.

... Also noteworthy is "The Size of It," a poem about body image, homosexuality, and Asian male identity; this poem has a flavor of painful honesty.

Even when at his most graphic and in-your-face, Liu writes with a poetic voice that is appealingly tender and gentle. I love his line, "Only love can make us visible" (from "With Chaos in Each Kiss"). Liu is definitely a poet worth exploring, and his work is a valuable contribution to American poetry, gay literature, and Asian-American literature. For an interesting complementary text, try Allen Ginsberg's "Cosmopolitan Greetings."