Thanks to NetGalley and Querencia Press for the ARC!

Cheryl Tan’s goddess is a slight but sturdy chapbook—a sorbet, of sorts, that whets the appetite just enough for the reader to want more.

I remember reading an interview once where a Singaporean artist spoke about how the physical constraint of the island lent itself to art that was expansive and experimental. This idea resonates with goddess.

It’s a bit difficult to find a center in such a brief chapbook, but it still pulls the reader into its orbit. Tan addresses sexuality, religion, and language, but she handles each subject with such a light touch that they seem almost feather-light. It feels like these poems need the context of a full collection in order for them to land with the force that moves just beneath their surface. They seem to desire conversation with each other, but Tan withholds it. The tension is wonderful.

“Padma” and “Fragments” are standout poems, but the line that burrowed into my brain originates in “honorary hollowscape”:

“can you count down to the moments when memory turns diegetic, the forcing of marrow of bone, ash out of body?”

I mean, wow.