An Orange, A Syllable

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By (author): Gillian Sze

The latest book by Gillian Sze, author of the Pat Lowther Memorial Award–winning book Quiet Night Think

This prosimetrical work is a meditation on motherhood, language, and art. The central speaker witnesses the earliest utterances of her child and launches into a poetic inquiry of words themselves, asking, How to measure one’s mouth by its words? The speaker seeks an answer amidst the language that surrounds her — words misspoken, mispronounced, remembered, unwritten — and, in doing so, struggles with signification and significance.

Each prose poem in the five-part collection darts between the many meanings of “fit” — as in “a sudden burst of emotion” or “to be the right size and shape,” and the archaic “fytte” (a section of a poem). A text becomes an open mouth, a square day of a calendar, or a bare fragment of a narrative. The final section of the book is an intimate and ekphrastic engagement with the work of Danish painter Vilhelm Hammershøi. Drawn to Hammershøi’s paintings of the empty rooms of his apartment, the speaker recognizes a familiar space of art’s insistence.

An Orange, A Syllable details a period of maternal and artistic transformation.

AUTHOR

Gillian Sze

Gillian Sze was born and raised in Winnipeg, Manitoba. Her poetry has appeared in such venues as CV2, Prairie Fire, pax americana (U.S.), Crannóg (Ireland), Cha: An Asian Literary Journal (Hong Kong), and as a featured ‘Parliamentary Poem of The Week’ selection. She is also the author of two chapbooks, This is the Colour I Love You Best (2007) and A Tender Invention (2008). She resides in Montreal.

Reviews

Each page ofAn Orange A Syllableis an encounter in a mirrored room printed words reckoning with the subject of speech In visceral lucid diaristic poems Sze explores how language starts in us and how quickly we come up against its limits We see multiplying reflections of motherhood a marriage paintings Chinese words and phrases Sze documents with lyrical precision how the words we say to each other are pivotal translations of ourselves capable of deepening both intimacy and estrangement Sadiqa de Meijer author ofalfabetalphabetwinner of the 2021 Governor Generals Literary Award for Englishlanguage nonfiction

InAn Orange A SyllableGillian Sze undertakes an exacting philosophical and brilliant study into the intricacies of common spoken words related through etymology culture history interpretation translation and even misunderstanding and confusion Her quiet and graceful prose draws us into intimate moments of childhood wonder motherhood the mundane and the pull of life In retreating into our home into a mothers observances of how a child first learns to speak and slowing down Sze invites us into the space and gaps of her poetry and to pause in a busy and distracted world with tedious chores to find conversation This collection reminded me of moments I marvelled at finding multiple and familiar meanings in my dying mother tongue and the lingua franca in my life A beautiful and extraordinary work Jamie Chai Yun Liew author ofDandelionfinalist for Canada Reads 2025

An Orange A Syllableis a breathtaking meditation on motherhood memory and language as well as a beautifully structured work Each of the seventyfive prose poems gently leads to the next one like one room leads to the other in the paintings by Vilhelm Hammershi Szes important poetic reference Meticulously following the mundane Gillian Sze measures the fragile spaces between mother and daughter husband and wife words and languages to show that an open mouth can be as vast as a universe in which black holes are observing us from across the table and everything seems right now In this stunning poetic vision even the simplest of actions like leaving a house can be a meditation on time and space Miljana Cunta author ofNekajkrat smo zali zdaj se vraamorecipient of Slovenias 2024 Grand Preeren Award