Shots in the night sky

Before Ocean Vuong gained worldwide fame for his novel On Earth We're Briefly Gorgeous, he was first and foremost a poet. His debut collection is a mixture of fragility and strength. In poems that draw from wartime experiences, cultural divides, and personal loss, the author searches for a language to express love, pain, memory, and desire. His verses are figurative, musically tuned, and yet uncompromisingly physical – they can be both tender and raw in a single sentence. With sensitivity and courage, Vuong captures how history seeps into an individual's life.