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The intimate connection between love and loss is explored with heartbreaking insight by former MacArthur fellow Ocean Vuong in his second collection of poetry, Time Is a Mother. Written after the death of his mother, the volume is a meditation on family, language, shared histories, and grief. With the same searing emotional depth and visceral themes that he explored in his revelatory 2019 novel, On Earth We’re Briefly Gorgeous, Vuong has written a testament to love that only a son could. —Cady Lang
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