Beds in the East

Book excerpt: Poetry. Spanning across continents and generations, Jason Eng Hun Lee's ambitious first collection maps the poet's formative childhood experiences in Borneo and his subsequent transplantation and coming of age in the UK. Ranging from the lush, verdant countryside of the poet's multiracial upbringing to the proud, iconic national landmarks of London, BEDS IN THE EAST portrays through gorgeous psychic landscapes the persistent presence of ancestral voices and the desire to embrace multitudes. This tale speaks to an entire generation of people travelling between worlds: of departures and arrivals, love and loss, and of identities in constant flux. "These poems are tight-seamed, their subjects almost demanding fuller space. This book's mature imagination of historical figures writes back to, and from, great men of the past, including ancient warriors and canonical poets. Via the everyday pleasures and cruelties of childhood, it incidentally but importantly registers the natural and cultural life of more locations than tend to enjoy space in mainstream 'English' nostalgic poetry."--Vahni Capildeo