Picking up where Come Clean left off, Joshua Nguyen’s second collection of poems offers the reader a supercharged vision of a body in motion, seeking the keys to happiness.
From “Shoulder Day Motivational Speech by Sisyphus” to “Sestina for Each Set in the Gym,” and from “Spine Compression Mirrored Sonnet” to “Haibun for the Asian Body Doing Infinite Push-Ups in a Mississippi Field,” the poems in this collection are laser-focused on both the craft of writing and the effort to craft a body. The sensibilities and the cleverness delve deep, revealing inner pain, outer doubts, and the constant motion of a search for belonging.
Experimenting with global traditional forms (ghazal, sestina, aubade, sonnet, haibun) and inventing interactive structures reminiscent of Mad Libs, Nguyen effortlessly breathes life into unexpected places. Ripped is a tour-de-force collection that methodically excises all the loneliness out of a body destined to be both loved and scrutinized.
                       “I wish I could grasp
the elements, could look at grass

& see photosynthesis & life & love
instead of itch & sweat & grass

stained skin.”
—Excerpt from “I Wish, How I Wish Ghazal”