{"product_id":"iron-goddess-of-mercy-9781551528441","title":"Iron Goddess of Mercy","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003ci\u003eIron Goddess of Mercy\u003c\/i\u003eby Lambda Literary Award winner Larissa Lai (for the novel \u003ci\u003eThe Tiger Flu\u003c\/i\u003e) is a long poem that captures the vengeful yet hopeful movement of the Furies mid-whirl and dance with them through the horror of the long now. Inspired by the tumultuous history of Hong Kong, from the Japanese and British occupations to the ongoing pro-democracy protests, the poem interrogates the complicated notion of identity, offering a prism through which the term \"Asian\" can be understood to make sense of a complex set of relations. The self crystallizes in moments of solidity, only to dissolve and whirl away again. The poet is a windsock, catching all the affect that blows at her and ballooning to fullness, only to empty again when the wind changes direction. \u003ci\u003eIron Goddess of Mercy\u003c\/i\u003e is a game of mah jong played deep into the night, an endless gamble.\u003c\/p\u003e \u003cp\u003ePresented in sixty-four fragments to honor the sixty-four hexagrams of the I Ching, \u003ci\u003eIron Goddess of Mercy\u003c\/i\u003e also borrows from haibun, a traditional Japanese form of travel writing in which each diary entry closes with a haiku. The poem dizzies, turns on itself. It rants, it curses, it writes love letters, but as the Iron Goddess is ever changing, so is the object of her address: a maenad, Kool-Aid, Chiang Kai-shek, the economy, a clown, freedom of speech, a brother, a bother, a typist, a monster, a machine, Iris Chang, Hannah Arendt, the Greek warrior Achilles, or a deer caught in the headlights. \u003c\/p\u003e \u003cp\u003eFinally, a balm to the poem's devastating passion and fury, \u003ci\u003eIron Goddess of Mercy\u003c\/i\u003e is also a type of oolong tea, a most fragrant infusion said to have been a gift from the\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e compassionate bodhisattva Guan Yin. \u003c\/p\u003e \u003cp\u003eSummoning the ghosts of history and politics, \u003ci\u003eIron Goddess of Mercy\u003c\/i\u003e explores the complexities of identity through the lens of rage and empowerment.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eAbout the Author\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003eLarissa Lai won Lambda Literary's Jim Duggins Outstanding Mid-Career Novelists' Prize in 2020. She is the author of three novels: \u003ci\u003eSalt Fish Girl, When Fox Is a Thousand\u003c\/i\u003e, and most recently, \u003ci\u003eThe Tiger Flu\u003c\/i\u003e, which won a Lambda Literary Award for Lesbian Fiction, was named an Otherwise Honor Book, and was shortlisted for the City of Calgary W.O. Mitchell Award. Her previous poetry books include \u003ci\u003eAutomaton Biographies\u003c\/i\u003e. She holds a Canada Research Chair in Creative Writing at the University of Calgary where she directs the Insurgent Architects' House for Creative Writing.\u003cbr\u003e","brand":"Arsenal Pulp Press","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":50528998490386,"sku":"9781551528441","price":12.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0831\/4771\/8930\/files\/img_8e4a3d5a-d39e-433f-9aef-d6587f17fd53.jpg?v=1731338635","url":"https:\/\/surprise-castle.myshopify.com\/products\/iron-goddess-of-mercy-9781551528441","provider":"Surprise Castle","version":"1.0","type":"link"}