Routes by Rhiya Pau
ISBN 9781913665715
published by Arachne Press/Books Go Social
A lovely collection of poems inspired by bother inner and outer journeys. Listening to the stories of her elders, who immigrated to the UK from South Asia and found ways to keep their identities while learning to fit into their new culture, the poet was inspired to consider their lives and her own as she travels herself to find her own way of being in the cultures of her grandparents.
In the preface she states, 'Conversations with our elders suggests that they...have compartmentalized fragments of their identities in order to survive. For me, writings Routes has been a process of holding these fragments up to the light, laying them down on a page and acknowledging the overlapping narratives and the silent spaces in between.'
I like the play on words in the title--Routes (as I pronounce it) could just as easily be Roots.
These poems are very accessible and brought me along with the poet as she explored these themes of belonging, cultural unfamiliarity, and self-discovery.
