VIRGA by Shin Yu Pai
When Shin Yu Pai reached out to Samjoko Magazine to have her book, VIRGA, reviewed, I quickly googled her and, more importantly, the book itself. What struck me first about the poetry was the poignancy yet simplicity of the language: “when is the hall never not vacant?” A simple question, a simple line, yet there is a haunting tone to it it, the image of absence planted squarely in your mind.
I continued to research Shin Yu Pai as I read through her poetry, and discovered the poems in VIRGA are in part about the loss of a teacher whom she shared a close connection with. The fact that, from the very beginning of the book, the poetry could convey a sense of loss so clearly, is why we decided to accept VIRGA as the first reviewed book of Samjoko Magazine.
There are many such concise yet impactful lines throughout the collection. “I lost my innocence / in water, you say to me / when I was a child no / more mature than five”. Shin Yu Pai’s poems pull you into them in only a way that a strong narrative can, and you find yourself floating from page to page to see how and in what direction the current will flow. In each bend you discover surprises, tragedies, wisdoms and little bursts of learnings, such as the poems about the making of clay tsa-tsas.
The poetry in VIRGA conveys strong, potent imagery, but also carries a concrete narrative voice in the sparse lines that composes each stanza. I identified with “The Lineage”, which speaks of a classmate who sent the writer’s poem to Cid Corman, an American poet who founded Origins. The imminent poet’s polite response, “…she might have / potential — a long way to go”.
My own very first submitted work was sent by a friend who did not ask me for permission, and it is learning how to deal with real reactions to your writing from established authors that all potential writers must master if they wish to push forward with their craft.
This collection of poetry, VIRGA, so much about teachers, strikes a chord specifically with me, as I am a teacher with young students writing in English. I often think back upon how important my writing teachers were to me, how I treasured the gifts of technique they bequeathed me, as I attempt to teach my current students how to express themselves clearly and honestly in the written word of a foreign tongue.
As I dug deeper into the genesis of the collection of VIRGA, I found that the aforementioned teacher Shin Yu Pai wrote about, the poet Bill Scheffel, committed suicide on July 8th, 2018. I won’t pretend to know more about this individual than a cursory google search, but it does leave one with an ultimate truth - all guiding stars are destined to dim, and moving past this tragic reality of life is something all humans must learn to do.
Shin Yu Pai, second-generation Taiwanese American, weaves Buddhist tradition with a precise, engaging poetic style that leaves readers with VIRGA, a book Samjoko Magazine highly recommends to poetry readers as well as non-poetry readers.
Shin Yu Pai
A 2014 Stranger Genius Award nominee, Shin Yu Pai is the author of ten books of poetry. Her work has appeared in publications throughout the U.S., Japan, China, Taiwan, The United Kingdom, and Canada.
For more information, visit her website here.
