Slows: Twice, T. Liem

Coach House Books, 2023

Slows: Twice by T. Liem was one of the best poetry collections I read in 2023. Each individual poem hit me so hard that I needed to read them twice, and they are each mirrored in the second half of the book, so I had to read them again! These poems imagine beyond themselves while reflecting back on themselves, encouraging us to embrace what new iterations of ourselves we might welcome. The poems in Slows: Twice are experimental and weird, playing with shape and sound and time, revelling in what life can be.

—Emma Rhodes, Toronto