How to Not Be Afraid of Everything
by Jane Wong
I was so excited to find Jane Wong’s collection of poems How to Not Be Afraid of Everything in my
local library. A few years ago, I read Wong’s excellent memoir Meet Me Tonightin Atlantic City. Her memoir
details her early years growing up as a daughter of Chinese immigrants who
owned a restaurant in Atlantic City, and continues focusing on her education
and scholarship, which have all influenced her art and writing. I was also excited
to read this collection since I don’t get to read poetry as much as I used to.
I’ve read a few collections over the past few years, but sadly, I don’t
encounter poetry as much as I once did as an English major. I was intermittently
feasting on Wong’s words over the course of a few weeks and was satisfied by
this collection. I noticed many recurring themes in these poems and in Wong’s memoir.
I think that my favorite element of Wong’s poems in this collection is her
ability to recognize the beauty in ordinary items and daily activities. Maybe
it was growing up in a restaurant and playing around the food, the appliances,
and the leftovers, but some of the poems detail life in the restaurant kitchen and
outback, finding joy and adventure in what many adults would overlook. It’s
this ability to take a childlike eye and transform the everyday that makes
these poems transcendent and enjoyable. It’s also a reminder for me that poetry
has the ability to closely examine an object or event and transform it to
something exquisite or extraordinary. I really enjoyed this aspect of her
writing. Other poems reflect and honor her family, especially her relatives
from China, focusing on both the foods that nourished them as well as the tragedies
and hardships that eventually brought them to America. At the center of Wong’s
collection is the longer poem “When You Died,” which examines both the Great
Leap Forward, when China tried to revolutionize agriculture, which resulted in over
35 million dead, and Wong’s own relatives that she never met. Like the art
installation she created, her poem seeks to nourish her family’s hungry ghosts,
and she uses food imagery throughout to both honor and forge her own connection
with her ancestors. It’s a striking, powerful poem that I will need to revisit
to further understand. Another theme is the autobiographical nature of her
poems where Wong explores both her vulnerability and her desire to “Put on My Fur
Coat”, which was one of my favorite poems. It was kind of like the opposite of
the poems that deal with the sadness and loss; or at least, it was more like a
more determined response to the setbacks and sadness that life sometimes offers.
I could see this poem being almost anthemic, like Maya Angelou’s “Still I Rise”,
offering readers reassurance and support in facing life’s challenges. Other
poems around this one, like "The Cactus” and “What I Tell Myself After
Waking Up With Fists” also deal with sadness, regret, fear, loneliness, and were
poems that I could also relate to. In addition, Wong’s parents feature in both
her memoir and her poetry, and the poems that deal with her father’s gambling
and transient ways, and her mother’s persistence and determination to make a
new life. After reading her memoir, I appreciated these poems as well, and they
deal with the complicated emotions of having a parent with addictions. Although
I need to return Wong’s collection of poems soon, I’m excited to find more of
her work, both in print and online.
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