I did not finish this book. I was not interested in reading it and could not get past the first few pages.

When you look at the title it gives you not an impression of what the book entails. Nor does the authors name give much away. Surely you’re very curious about the content now. Go have a read cuz I sure loved it.

South China Sea deals with the currency of memory in a beautifully untraditional context. Rather than write an autobiographical series of poems which are rooted in chronology, Ken Norris writes as new experiences lift old memories to the present day. In this autobiography, readers can appreciate Norris' honest perspectives about wartime and struggle, while recognizing that people will continue to love, lust, and hope as they always have before. This writing is beautifully written, although promotes certain concepts which at times feel tokenizing or objectifying in regards to how the poet discusses Asian people of color and women.

As a premise, South China Sea piqued my interest immediately. When I learned later that Ken Norris had taught at one of my alma maters, I was further invested to read this collection fully. Anyone who is stable and privileged enough to travel will know the power that seeing another way of living can be. Norris is incredibly lucky to have lived in the places he has and traveled elsewhere, exposing himself to different cultures and experiences he has grown an affection for. While reading about the imagery and poignancy of the places he described, I also reflected on the places I had lived and traveled and what I have learned. At times, Norris' descriptions of China, where he refers to people with outdated terminology and with sweeping generalizations, feels as though Norris has formed a tokenized and idealized version of China and its surrounding provinces. While political nuances are brought up with China's complicated history with Tibet and Hong Kong, many of the poems about Norris' own experiences are about the beautiful women he met or the quality of the beds he slept in. This forms a gap between the beautiful narrative he painted about lived experiences he had as a result of his travels, and a severe gap in missing cultural knowledge he failed to acquire.

When reflecting explicitly on his memories in the United States and Canada, there was slightly more nuance. My favorite poem in the collection was about the Vietnam War, where Norris wrote that the people he noticed the Americans forced into fighting in the War on Vietnamese soil were poor Black people, as white men had financial, educational, and racial privileges others could not shield themselves with. These nuanced and historical perspectives were often nestled between Norris' experiences with failed relationships and his casual lust for women. One poem, which casually mentioned a college woman he admired as a faculty member at the University of Maine, felt awkward both in its presentation (as it did not appear as though the woman knew he was watching her) and the adoration (as the power dynamic is clear both in its vastness of age and position). As a female student who attended the University of Maine ten years later, this poem had me especially conflicted. I appreciated the honesty and the message that lust does not simply stop due to heartache and past war traumas, but to write so simply about women as if they are objects to love innately felt awkwardly outdated. At times, Norris almost feels possessive in his attraction for women. It was hard to picture walking through Neville Hall and realizing that certain professors may have been paying special attention to my appearance as well as developing talents.

One of the aspects which I appreciated in this poetry collection was the acceptance of one man's perspective and the gaps that exist innately. In the poem titled "It's Not My Fault," I found myself wishing for more context from the opposing perspective. If this poem was about a failed marriage as I had interpreted, I wonder what his significant other must have felt. What would her poem sound like? If it was about hardships that his family had faced, where would his daughter put the blame during hard times? I found the theme of traveling interesting when compared the the moments Norris opens up about his life. He had returned from extended traveling when his daughter was four years old to help raise his family, and yet his travels are clearly what is at the heart of South China Sea. The absence of stories about his adventures with his family is as telling as the natural imagery he includes. What results is an interesting story of omission which at the same time, remains honest.