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A review by prettymuchbooks
Attack of the Fifty-Foot Centerfold by Dorothy Chan
funny
lighthearted
reflective
medium-paced
5.0
“and if life is made of episodes,
then what about the one when my friend
tells me I was a concubine in a past life?
I’m sure I was at the top of the food chain,
racking up bills, bills, bills
on an emperor tycoon’s credit card,
forming alliances with the right women,
only to knock one out each week, clawing
my way to the top, stabbing him in the back,
and making myself Queen of the World,
Empress of Everyone’s Heart…”
— from the poem, “My Father is the Son of a Concubine”
Dorothy Chan is truly an iconic poet and just like she speaks about her Grandma in the poem, “My Parents’ Love Story: The Dinner Special”:
“I love how she’s such a boss, // letting the world know” through her words, odes, and triple sonnets what they’re about — Chan’s storytelling is bound to keep you reading. ✨
“…and I want to shield / my grandmother from such a sight, / but who am I kidding? She’s already seen it all…” 🤭
Family is an ongoing topic in this collection as in a poem where she recounts her father’s heart attack which has her considering his mortality: “there’s no way in hell my father’s going to die, // and I’m shooing away all the pythons hissing / down the hospital corridor, / stay away from my dad, I’m only 26.”
In another Chan speaks of their mother, the writer, and the words she’s written down from watching soap operas as well as tips like bringing jell-o to welcome neighbors and calling a coke a cola: “her notebooks still filled cover to cover.” 🙂
Chan also speaks on being a snake daughter “a seductress, / the family fortune teller warns / [her] parents… after they’ve moved / from Hong Kong to America.” She is made aware of her body — years in advance of experiencing her girlhood, she’s already on the verge of womanhood, contemplating so much…
There’s so much in this poetry collection to talk about and food is also important like if “you can’t handle my food, / you can’t handle me, and I’m not your Asian cupcake,” Chan says in one poem. In another, she is taken back to memories of the wet market, together with her father, a daughter much loved and protected from the eels in the tank that scared her. 💕
then what about the one when my friend
tells me I was a concubine in a past life?
I’m sure I was at the top of the food chain,
racking up bills, bills, bills
on an emperor tycoon’s credit card,
forming alliances with the right women,
only to knock one out each week, clawing
my way to the top, stabbing him in the back,
and making myself Queen of the World,
Empress of Everyone’s Heart…”
— from the poem, “My Father is the Son of a Concubine”
Dorothy Chan is truly an iconic poet and just like she speaks about her Grandma in the poem, “My Parents’ Love Story: The Dinner Special”:
“I love how she’s such a boss, // letting the world know” through her words, odes, and triple sonnets what they’re about — Chan’s storytelling is bound to keep you reading. ✨
“…and I want to shield / my grandmother from such a sight, / but who am I kidding? She’s already seen it all…” 🤭
Family is an ongoing topic in this collection as in a poem where she recounts her father’s heart attack which has her considering his mortality: “there’s no way in hell my father’s going to die, // and I’m shooing away all the pythons hissing / down the hospital corridor, / stay away from my dad, I’m only 26.”
In another Chan speaks of their mother, the writer, and the words she’s written down from watching soap operas as well as tips like bringing jell-o to welcome neighbors and calling a coke a cola: “her notebooks still filled cover to cover.” 🙂
Chan also speaks on being a snake daughter “a seductress, / the family fortune teller warns / [her] parents… after they’ve moved / from Hong Kong to America.” She is made aware of her body — years in advance of experiencing her girlhood, she’s already on the verge of womanhood, contemplating so much…
There’s so much in this poetry collection to talk about and food is also important like if “you can’t handle my food, / you can’t handle me, and I’m not your Asian cupcake,” Chan says in one poem. In another, she is taken back to memories of the wet market, together with her father, a daughter much loved and protected from the eels in the tank that scared her. 💕