thoughts on Split by Cathy Linh Che

I finally finished the first of my six poetry books for the semester; Split by Cathy Linh Che. Just under 90 pages, Split explores a couple of topics; the main being rape, CSA, and family/bloodlines. Because of that it is a collection I’d warn for potential triggers, but I thought it was absolutely fantastic. 

I rate this collection 4/5 stars. As with most poetry my attention waxes and wanes with certain topics and there were points where it was very difficult to read poem after poem about child assault. Though, I am sure that was very intentional. Overall though, I felt it was skillfully written to evoke emotion in a reader. I will also readily admit I don’t think I’m among the audience this would strike deeply for. 

The collection is split into three sections and the second one is consistently very well written, with both of my favorite poems (Nocturne and Daughter) being in the second section. 

Just because I will never not be a quote collector, I wanted to share my favorite line(s) from each of my favorite poems:

“There’s an indent where his body used to be. Now she saves

the other half for books.” (- Nocturne).

and

“I am his daughter, a mirror

or a window. I reflect red,

which means: stop, blood, or danger.” (- Daughter).

If you like either of those lines, the rest of the poems that they come from are breathtaking and I highly reccomend checking them out even if you don’t read this whole collection!

The next book I’ll post about will be Patient by Bettina Judd; Let me know if you guys liked the formatting/information in this post and any sort of comments on Patient you’d like to see!