The Yankee Bookshop was fortunate enough to host Ocean Vuong for a reading at Woodstock’s annual literary festival, Bookstock, back in 2019. It was our last in-person festival before all of the Covid-19 shutdowns.
His recently released novel, On Earth We’re Briefly Gorgeous, was receiving a lot of attention at the time and his star was definitely on the rise—but I personally was not familiar with his work and therefore not really sure what I was walking into. The North Chapel was packed, standing room only (something I don’t know if I will ever experience again in this post-shutdown world) and we were all entranced from the start.
Vuong’s small stature and quiet voice drew you in, but his presence completely filled the room to bursting by the end of his time with us. The language of his writing made us hold our collective breath. His thoughtful responses to the crowd’s questions gave you a glimpse of his genius. And meeting him briefly afterwards as he signed copies of his books was a real treat - he is one of those rare truly beautiful humans. This reading has stuck with me as a genuine Once-in-a-Lifetime Experience. A moment when we were truly in the presence of greatness.
Fast forward to now, and Ocean Vuong has just released his second poetry collection, Time Is A Mother. Anyone who has read his work before will know that the topics he deals with are never easy, often brutal. This particular collection deals a lot with grief: the loss of his mother, moving through that grief, and trying to survive beyond it. A blockbuster start to Poetry Month. I cannot wait to dive into these pieces and experience Vuong’s genius anew.
Kari Meutsch and Kristian Preylowski co-own and run the Yankee Bookshop in Woodstock.