foggy_rosamund's review
4.0
I really enjoyed this expansive, imaginative collection about migration, love, home, and what we learn from water and the ocean. In experimental and sensually-rich poems, Miller explores her Malaysian heritage, her family history, and moving between multiple cultures. She's also very interested in water -- one of my favourite pieces in this book is a sequence, Bloom, about jellyfish, which captures oceans full of jellyfish, jellyfish travelling through space, and jellyfish as a metaphor for the mistreatment of refugees. She also writes about swimming, being under water, and different ways of understanding salt water. Another surprising poem is "Proxima B", which is a long thought experiment, looking at what it would mean to love someone on a different planet, and the ways light travels through space. She's also not afraid to experiment: the poem "Glitch honorifics" flows across the page like a family tree, in a series of boxes, as she looks at untranslatable words. I also really admired her more formal poems: I usually find ghazals disappointing, but Miller's "Moon goddess ghazal" was a real stand-out piece for me, cleverly using a restrictive form to write an expansive poem. Another favourite was "Persimmon abcedarian", which captures the beauty of persimmons, mothers as migrants, and trying to celebrate the Chinese new year in a tiny British flat. Miller's voice is memorable and compelling, and she's definitely a poet to watch.
scottishben's review
4.0
For a collection I knew nothing about and took a punt on this was an unexpected delight. The first half of the book seemed to contain more poems that interested and spoke to me and there isnt perhaps a single poem that I loved so much to single out and read and re-read again and again as can often happen with poetry collections but I really enjoyed it and will revisit the collection quite a bit through the year.
There are signs of this being maybe a first collection with a lack of standardness of style and approach but in someways that might just be the experimental and explorative nature of the poet.
There are signs of this being maybe a first collection with a lack of standardness of style and approach but in someways that might just be the experimental and explorative nature of the poet.
kendramichele's review
challenging
emotional
reflective
medium-paced
4.0
I thoroughly enjoyed this collection that meditates on heritage, migration, and identity. Many of the poems experiment with structure; the result is delightful and expansive, challenging and inventive. Highly recommend!
lokster71's review
5.0
Honorifics is Cynthia Miller's first collection of poems. It's a wonderful collection. I enjoyed it a lot. In her acknowledgement's Miller says: "All my love to my family - Mom, Dad, Ashley, as well as extended family in Malaysia and Minnesota - who are the beating heart of this book." And that's true.
This collection explores identity through family and family experience (although that is not the only thing the collection explores, which I'll come to later.)
A lot of recent poetry I've read talks about the issues of identity for second - or more - generations of immigrants. Of how to balance the competing identities of the country you live in and the cultural you come from. In Miller's case an extra complication has been added by the fact that she now lives in Britain. One of the poems in this collection 'The Home Office' is both a brilliant poem and a perfect polemic against the mindset of the Home Office. It ends with words from Theresa May, from when she was Home Secretary. As someone who would like the Home Office re-built from the ground up this poem really hit home.
Not everything is about family. There's a lovely suite of poems about jelly fish. Indeed, water features a lot in this collection. On a very personal note in "The impossible physiology of the free diver" there's a section of the poem when she talks about sitting on the bottom of a swimming pool to see how long she can hold her breath, which reminded me of when I found myself sitting patiently on the floor of a Spanish hotel swimming pool after having fallen in. I couldn't swim so I was basically waiting to drown. My Dad rescued me. But there was something about that meditational waiting that Miller catches:
"I was a little god on the floor
of the world looking up." (p64)
Another thing that comes up a lot in this collection is food both as a cultural signifier and as a memory hook. One of my favourite poems in the collection, "Persimmon abecedarian", is the perfect example. The fruit is a seed to grow a poem that is about family, immigration, love and cooking:
"...This is my
personal definition of luminous, a
quiet moment in the kitchen, my mother chiding me
Remember to call home from time to time." (p71)
Miller also plays with the topography of the page. There are interestingly laid out poems. Some look like blocks of prose, some are split to reflect different time lines. It all helps make for an excellent collection. There are lines and poems that have burrowed their way into me. My copy is full of underlining and notes.
I could go on for ages. If you haven't worked it out already I like this collection a lot. In fact, I may have said that right at the beginning. I will definitely read it again. I look digging more out of it on every read.
I'll end with a little bit of Miller's poetry. Just a couple of lines from the five part poem "Portmeirion".
"My body takes on sadness the way lily pollen stains everything,
Accidentally, gently, permanently." (p17)
This collection explores identity through family and family experience (although that is not the only thing the collection explores, which I'll come to later.)
A lot of recent poetry I've read talks about the issues of identity for second - or more - generations of immigrants. Of how to balance the competing identities of the country you live in and the cultural you come from. In Miller's case an extra complication has been added by the fact that she now lives in Britain. One of the poems in this collection 'The Home Office' is both a brilliant poem and a perfect polemic against the mindset of the Home Office. It ends with words from Theresa May, from when she was Home Secretary. As someone who would like the Home Office re-built from the ground up this poem really hit home.
Not everything is about family. There's a lovely suite of poems about jelly fish. Indeed, water features a lot in this collection. On a very personal note in "The impossible physiology of the free diver" there's a section of the poem when she talks about sitting on the bottom of a swimming pool to see how long she can hold her breath, which reminded me of when I found myself sitting patiently on the floor of a Spanish hotel swimming pool after having fallen in. I couldn't swim so I was basically waiting to drown. My Dad rescued me. But there was something about that meditational waiting that Miller catches:
"I was a little god on the floor
of the world looking up." (p64)
Another thing that comes up a lot in this collection is food both as a cultural signifier and as a memory hook. One of my favourite poems in the collection, "Persimmon abecedarian", is the perfect example. The fruit is a seed to grow a poem that is about family, immigration, love and cooking:
"...This is my
personal definition of luminous, a
quiet moment in the kitchen, my mother chiding me
Remember to call home from time to time." (p71)
Miller also plays with the topography of the page. There are interestingly laid out poems. Some look like blocks of prose, some are split to reflect different time lines. It all helps make for an excellent collection. There are lines and poems that have burrowed their way into me. My copy is full of underlining and notes.
I could go on for ages. If you haven't worked it out already I like this collection a lot. In fact, I may have said that right at the beginning. I will definitely read it again. I look digging more out of it on every read.
I'll end with a little bit of Miller's poetry. Just a couple of lines from the five part poem "Portmeirion".
"My body takes on sadness the way lily pollen stains everything,
Accidentally, gently, permanently." (p17)
mxmrow's review
5.0
I enjoyed the whole collection but I think the alphabet poem Persimmon abecedarian was what made this a solid 5 star for me as it does not rely on it being an alphabet to work.
thecolourblue's review
emotional
hopeful
reflective
sad
medium-paced
3.75
A strong debut poetry collection. Very beautiful and elegant to read, though not maybe of the entries really stuck with me afterwards the way some poetry does. Many of the poems here are about words themselves - not just the honorifics of the title, but also about definitions, multiple meanings, translations (or not, in the case of 'There is no specific word in English for') and personal history with words.
There are a wide range of topics touched on in the poems, some of which are written in response to prompts or other works, and some of which are in response to Miller's own life and heritage. Traditional food, family and memories share the pages with technology and deep space exploration.
Throughout there is a theme of fluidity and shifting ground, more literally realised in ocean-themed works like 'Bloom', a poem about one of my favourite creatures - jellyfish.
There are a wide range of topics touched on in the poems, some of which are written in response to prompts or other works, and some of which are in response to Miller's own life and heritage. Traditional food, family and memories share the pages with technology and deep space exploration.
Throughout there is a theme of fluidity and shifting ground, more literally realised in ocean-themed works like 'Bloom', a poem about one of my favourite creatures - jellyfish.
"I hope you never feel unsafe in your own body / of water / night is dark enough as it is."