A review of Diana Khoi Nguyen's 'Ghost Of'
Part archive, part elegy, Diana Khoi Nguyen’s debut collection of poetry, Ghost Of, presents the haunting portrait of a grieving family set against a backdrop of intergenerational trauma. Written four years after the poet’s brother took his own life, Nguyen’s poems register this loss as it is refracted through the story of her parents’ immigration to the US as refugees in the wake of the Vietnam War.
Quiet is inevitable
Since moving back to Philadelphia after the hustle and bustle (and burnout) of New York, I have begun taking long walks. I mostly amble with no care or intention in my destination. Sometimes, I miss the bus. Sometimes, I am carrying huge brown paper bags of groceries with the handle partially ripped. Sometimes, I am carrying library books home. Sometimes, I leave a date or a friend. Often, I walk too fast and huff and get tired and stop and sit to get up and walk some more. I make a point to not listen to music or podcasts or talk on the phone. It has become a practice of familiarizing, a wandering that has helped reacquaint myself to the city I once knew.
In humanity, quiet is inevitable, essential. It is a simple beautiful part of what it means to be alive. It is already there, if one is looking to understand it. — Kevin Quashie[1]