Writing the Body Palimpsest

Abstract

Marilyn Chin writes within several poetic traditions—American, Chinese, and Asian American.¹ At times, within her poetry, these traditions collide in jarring and unsettling ways, and at other times, they gently and subtly overlap. However, regardless of how these traditions manifest, they form the framework within and against which Chin writes. The body often serves as the visual site of this collision or overlap because the body as depicted by Chin must continually negotiate among various cultures—American, Chinese, and Chinese American. Because of this continual negotiation and because of the bicultural aspects of being an immigrant in white America, the body manifests as a palimpsest, in both senses of the word. Chin often marks her poetic bodies with multiple layers of inscriptions, and previous experiences remain legible and readable. The body also becomes the object that reflects personal, familial, and cultural histories. Thus, in Chin’s poetry, we read history, dislocation, grief, anger, as well as subjectivity both on the body and through the body. In addition, Chin presents a body neither white nor black.