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, art – plus, 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 have a more powerful resonance. Vuong is certainly a talented writer, but will likely reach more people with his fiction than poetry.