Poems / January 29, 2024

from Earth’s Last Word (A superstitious poem)

Valerie Hsiung
Valerie Hsiung

Valerie Hsiung is the author of multiple poetry and hybrid writing collections, including The Naif (Ugly Duckling Presse, forthcoming 2024), The only name we can call it now is not its only name (Counterpath), To love an artist (Essay Press), selected by Renee Gladman for the 2021 Essay Press Book Prize, and outside voices, please (CSU), selected for the 2019 CSU Open Book Prize. Born in the Year of the Earth Snake and raised by Chinese-Taiwanese immigrants in Cincinnati, Ohio, she now lives in the mountains of Colorado where she teaches as Assistant Professor of Creative Writing & Poetics at Naropa’s Jack Kerouac School of Disembodied Poetics.

More from The Nation

A display shows information about TikTok outside the Fox News building in New York City, 2025.

TikTok’s Incomplete Story TikTok’s Incomplete Story

The company has transformed the very nature of social media, and in the process it has mutated as well—from tech unicorn to geopolitical chesspiece.

Books & the Arts / Erin Schwartz

Shawn Walker’s “Man with Bubble, Central Park (near Bandshell),” c. 1960-79, printed 1989.

Did We Get the History of Modern American Art Wrong? Did We Get the History of Modern American Art Wrong?

The standard story of 1960s arts is one of Abstract Expressionism leading into Pop Art and minimalism. A Whitney show proposes an altogether different one centered on surrealism.

Books & the Arts / Barry Schwabsky

A woman moves to comfort a coworker who is slumped over her desk in despair, circa 1940.

The Bleak History of the American Work Ethic The Bleak History of the American Work Ethic

In Make Your Own Job, Erik Baker shows just how long Americans have scrambled to pile work on top of work—and at what cost.

Books & the Arts / Nick Juravich

The Banal Spectacle of “Avatar: Fire and Ash”

The Banal Spectacle of “Avatar: Fire and Ash” The Banal Spectacle of “Avatar: Fire and Ash”

Has James Cameron’s epic sci-fi series run aground?

Books & the Arts / Stephen Kearse

Cyclists waiting at railroad crossing in Shenyang, China, 1990.

The Dislocations of Shuang Xuetao The Dislocations of Shuang Xuetao

The Chinese writer’s fiction details how the country transformed on an intimate level after the Cultural Revolution.

Books & the Arts / Ting Lin

A child on a swing outside a residential building damaged by a missile in Kyiv, Ukraine, 2022.

An Absurdist Novel That Tries to Make Sense of the Ukraine War An Absurdist Novel That Tries to Make Sense of the Ukraine War

Maria Reva’s Endling is at once a postmodern caper and an autobiographical work that explores how ordinary people navigate a catastrophe.

Books & the Arts / Laura Mills