The Book of Motion
University of Georgia Press, 2003 - Contemporary Poetry Series Prize
This debut collection explores memory, cities, motion. Tung-Hui Hu's tone has some of the swampy wit that recalls Calvino or Michaux: A man swaps bodies with his lover; a mapmaker holds captive a city, which needs his crystal telescope to navigate through streets "unreadable as palm lines"; a car pushed off a cliff in a fit of anger becomes home for a school of fish. Anchored by the sequence "Elegies for self," Hu's poetry brings a quiet sophistication to syntax, diction, and form.
Praise for The Book of Motion
The Book of Motion has a contained surreal style that deftly shapes a philosophical argument that somehow remains pure lyric.
Carol Muske-Dukes, Los Angeles Times
To read Tung-Hui Hu is to feel in the presence of a fresh, new voice. He's read his Tate and his Simic, absorbed their intelligent strangeness and humor, then with great brio and precision has discovered how to go his own way. The Book of Motion is an exciting debut.
Stephen Dunn, Pulitzer Prize-winning author ofDifferent Hours
Perplexity and wonder are integral parts of Tung-Hui Hu’s poetry, which is as elegant as it is surprising. . . . This aggregate of conflicting imagery is characteristic of the work throughout, which is haunting and mysterious, yet inexplicably vivid and tangible. . . . [An] intriguing debut collection.
Mark Tursi, Rain Taxi Review of Books