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A review by brice_mo
We the gathered heat by No‘u Revilla, Terisa Siagatonu, Bao Phi, Franny Choi
4.5
Thanks to NetGalley and Haymarket Books for the ARC!
We the Gathered Heat is an incredibly curated anthology from AAPI poets, sustained by the call-and-response energy of a great open mic night.
Edited by Franny Choi, Bao Phi, No’u Revilla, and Terisa Siagatonu, the book feels substantive without ever feeling bloated. With this many voices, the poems are unburdened by any need to “accomplish” anything; they are able to pursue themes instead of issues.
That’s not an indictment on other poetry collections, but it is a testament to the freedom afforded by this form. The vast range of personal experiences never reads as trope—Oh, this is the food poem. Yes, here’s the poem about micro-aggressions.Instead, when these topics appear, alongside all of their corresponding joys and griefs and complexities, they are situated in individual experience and secured in a community of other poems. Reading We the Gathered Heatfeels like hearing a great playlist for the first time—it’s full of surprises that feel intuitive in hindsight, and it will have people writing down all the names of artists they want to look up (Note to self: read more from Na Mee and Gabrielle Langkilde). I think part of the success in creating this vibe is rooted in the editorial decision to genuinely encompass AAPI writers—not simply East Asians or Asian-Americans.
This is a book about definitional expansion, not reductionism.
In the book’s opening, the editors reckon with the impossibility of consolidating so many experiences under the simplistic label of AAPI, and this is another place where the anthology’s form shines. Most of these poems are written with orality in mind, and they are meant to be performed and shared in their immediacy. There’s a boisterousness that makes the definitional nuances of “AAPI authorship” feel like a discussion for another time.
For now, it’s enough to have so many people gathered for a momentary, meaningful community.
We the Gathered Heat is an incredibly curated anthology from AAPI poets, sustained by the call-and-response energy of a great open mic night.
Edited by Franny Choi, Bao Phi, No’u Revilla, and Terisa Siagatonu, the book feels substantive without ever feeling bloated. With this many voices, the poems are unburdened by any need to “accomplish” anything; they are able to pursue themes instead of issues.
That’s not an indictment on other poetry collections, but it is a testament to the freedom afforded by this form. The vast range of personal experiences never reads as trope—Oh, this is the food poem. Yes, here’s the poem about micro-aggressions.Instead, when these topics appear, alongside all of their corresponding joys and griefs and complexities, they are situated in individual experience and secured in a community of other poems. Reading We the Gathered Heatfeels like hearing a great playlist for the first time—it’s full of surprises that feel intuitive in hindsight, and it will have people writing down all the names of artists they want to look up (Note to self: read more from Na Mee and Gabrielle Langkilde). I think part of the success in creating this vibe is rooted in the editorial decision to genuinely encompass AAPI writers—not simply East Asians or Asian-Americans.
This is a book about definitional expansion, not reductionism.
In the book’s opening, the editors reckon with the impossibility of consolidating so many experiences under the simplistic label of AAPI, and this is another place where the anthology’s form shines. Most of these poems are written with orality in mind, and they are meant to be performed and shared in their immediacy. There’s a boisterousness that makes the definitional nuances of “AAPI authorship” feel like a discussion for another time.
For now, it’s enough to have so many people gathered for a momentary, meaningful community.