These sectionopening poems build a yearning in the reader for what is lasting and paradoxically an appreciation for the momentary In this way Kwan guides us closer to their poetics without rejecting confession the greater concern is with atmosphere feelings and the mysteries of an embodied presentpossibly our one true home Marguerite Pigeon The British Columbia Review

One of the sheer brilliances of Kwans book is turning migration into a love poem and love into a migration Dont even try to separate the political from the personal there are too many transient rooms in the heart unregistered hearts in any given room And of course theres the border of desire home identity where all the action happens the convergence of lives motivations riding shotgun as Kwan puts it or rather wrenches it from our very hearts Carlos A Pittella Montreal Review of Books