At the End of the World There Is a Pond

At the End of the World There Is a Pond is a book about aftermaths. Each poem comes in the wake of a deep rupture-the ruptures of mental illness and addiction, of migration and displacement, of violence, familial conflict, and ecological catastrophe-and yet the speakers engage with despair and playfulness in equal measure, always allowing humor, irony, and the exuberance of contemporary life to bend darkness toward something like hope. Again and again, Steven Duong’s writing excavates the unnatural conditions of a seemingly natural world, asking us to pay studied attention to its inhabitants. His poems force us to keep looking: at the betta fish trapped in its mason jar, the forest choked by invasive kudzu, the elephant wounded in a landmine blast. Through its relentless scrutiny and exacting care, this magisterial debut collection poses an impossible question: How can we reconcile a deep love for the world, in all its buzzing, wriggling aliveness, with an equally deep, self-destructive desire to leave it behind?