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Benjamin Law was impressed by a 'precise, devastating, beautiful piece’ in the New Yorker by Ocean Vuong, A Letter to My Mother That She Will Never Read, and sought out his first collection of poetry, Night Sky with Exit Wounds.
'Precise, devastating and beautiful’ was Ben Law's first encounter with Ocean Vuong's work.
He shares two poems from that collection:
'Thanksgiving 2006', saying that what resonates for him is the backstory of a refugee or immigrant, the portrayal of family violence, as well as the undercurrent of violence about the way Ocean talks about sex.
'Because it’s summer' which Ben describes as being emblematic of intimate experiences touched with tension, violence, shame or dread.
Benjamin Law is the author of the memoir The Family Law (2010)—now also an award-winning SBS TV series—Gaysia: Adventures in the Queer East (2012) and the Quarterly Essay Moral Panic 101 (2017). He’s written for over 50 publications worldwide and co-hosts ABC RN’s weekly national pop culture show Stop Everything.
Source text: Night Sky with Exit Wounds, Ocean Vuong, Copper Canyon Press, 2016
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