TIME IS A MOTHER

by Ocean Vuong, Jonathan

Cape, £14.99, ebook £8.99

★★★☆☆

Ocean Vuong is a writer to watch – he proved that in his impossibly moving debut book On Earth We Are Briefly Gorgeous.

This is his second poetry collection, and he touches upon many of the same themes – sexuality, being an immigrant in America and art, while throughout the poems, he’s constantly grappling with the death of his mother.

While some of the more experimental poems don’t feel hugely accessible, the simpler verses feel more powerful.

Vuong is certainly a talented writer, but will likely reach more people with his fiction than poetry.