Fiona Tinwei Lam | Odes and Laments
Reviewed by: Helen MasonAbout the Author: Fiona Tinwei Lam has written three collections of poetry, a children’s book and is co-editor of two collections of non-fiction. Her work appears in over forty anthologies. She has recently finished a three-year term as Vancouver’s sixth poet laureate. Her award-winning poetry videos, made in collaboration with others, have appeared in festivals internationally. She teaches at SFU’s Continuing Studies.
About the Book: One of the themes in Fiona’s book that sticks out for me are the beauty to be found in everyday objects, such as Pencil, Utility Pole, Lemon, Matches. In her poem Chopsticks, Fiona describes her grandfather teaching her, in her childhood, to use chopsticks by picking marbles, one by one, out of a bowl … not easy, I tried.
Another theme – and this is where the title word Laments comes in – is the ubiquity of plastic in our modern world. Many of her plastic poems are graphic, such as Consumery, Mountains, Swallow and Quench. Her use of typography in these poems gives the reader visual as well as verbal imagery.
PS: Each year our Readers and Writers Festival invites a prominent Canadian poet. We are delighted that Fiona will be this year’s poet.
