Dear Diaspora by Susan Nguyen faber Unorthodox was what happened

Unorthodox was what happened

panicky or unable to cope

a country or to a shared dream or language

beaches in the Caribbean

With deft sleight-of-hand

Dear Diaspora by Susan Nguyen faber Unorthodox was what happenedDear Diaspora is an unapologetic reckoning with history, memory, and grief. Parting the weeds on a small American town, this collection sheds light on the intersections of girlhood and diaspora. The poems introduce us to Suzi: ripping her leg hairs out with duct tape, praying for ecstasy during Sunday mass, dreaming up a language for buried familial trauma and discovering that such a language may not exist. Through a collage of lyric, documentary, and