Overview

Stand-up comedy, a celebrity non-apology, observations of racism, and the slipperiness of nostalgia underpin Replica. In poignant, witty poems, Lisa Low navigates the tensions of solidarity and hostility in white spaces as she sets out to write differently about race. “The problem of being with a white man is also a problem of writing,” Low states in a prose poem that turns writing about identity on its head. She peers in from the outside, as if through an open ceiling: “Like any good girl, / I became good / at watching myself.” The poem itself becomes a site of investigation, reimagined as a dollhouse, a stage with props, an image the speaker wears like a bodysuit. These powerful and direct poems offer a counterpoint to constricting narratives about Asian American identity. Sure to appeal to readers of Monica Youn and Claudia Rankine, Replica asks what it means to represent yourself and your experiences in a world where you are indistinguishable from others.

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9780299356545

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Reviews

""Replica is a lyrical reckoning. Low unravels complex layers of selfhood through hybrid prose poems, ars poeticas, and odes, and goes all in--rattling whiteness with necessary directness.""--Jane Wong ""A haunting study in self-portraiture. Low's wry, winning humor mixes with her unsparing poignancy, bidding us to see each other, and ourselves, better."" --Philip Metres ""The core questions of Replica--around power and proximity, interracial relationships and white guilt, and mental health--'sing in the darkness' in poems that quite literally take up space, that flood the whiteness of the page.""--Chet'la Sebree

""Replica is a lyrical reckoning. Low unravels complex layers of selfhood through hybrid prose poems, ars poeticas, and odes, and goes all in--rattling whiteness with necessary directness.""--Jane Wong ""The core questions of Replica--around power and proximity, interracial relationships and white guilt, and mental health--'sing in the darkness' in poems that quite literally take up space, that flood the whiteness of the page.""--Chet'la Sebree

“The core questions of Replica—around power and proximity, interracial relationships and white guilt, and mental health—‘sing in the darkness’ in poems that quite literally take up space, that flood the whiteness of the page.” - Chet'la Sebree “Replica is a lyrical reckoning. Low unravels complex layers of selfhood through hybrid prose poems, ars poeticas, and odes, and goes all in—rattling whiteness with necessary directness.” - Jane Wong “A haunting study in self-portraiture. Low’s wry, winning humor mixes with her unsparing poignancy, bidding us to see each other, and ourselves, better.” - Philip Metres

“The core questions of Replica—around power and proximity, interracial relationships and white guilt, and mental health—‘sing in the darkness’ in poems that quite literally take up space, that flood the whiteness of the page.” - Chet'la Sebree “Replica is a lyrical reckoning. Low unravels complex layers of selfhood through hybrid prose poems, ars poeticas, and odes, and goes all in—rattling whiteness with necessary directness.” - Jane Wong “A haunting study in self-portraiture. Low’s wry, winning humor mixes with her unsparing poignancy, bidding us to see each other, and ourselves, better.” - Philip Metres

Author Information

Lisa Low is the author of Crown for the Girl Inside, winner of the Vinyl 45 Chapbook Contest from YesYes Books. Her poems have appeared in Copper Nickel, Ecotone, The Massachusetts Review, Poetry, The Southern Review, and elsewhere, and her nonfiction was awarded the Gulf Coast Nonfiction Prize. The recipient of a Pushcart Prize, she earned her MFA from Indiana University and PhD from the University of Cincinnati. She lives in Chicago.

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