{"product_id":"at-the-end-of-the-world-there-is-a-pond","title":"At the End of the World There Is a Pond","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cem\u003eAt the End of the World There Is a Pond\u003c\/em\u003e is a book about aftermaths. Each poem comes in the wake of a deep rupture-the ruptures of mental illness and addiction, of migration and displacement, of violence, familial conflict, and ecological catastrophe-and yet the speakers engage with despair and playfulness in equal measure, always allowing humor, irony, and the exuberance of contemporary life to bend darkness toward something like hope.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eAgain and again, Steven Duong’s writing excavates the unnatural conditions of a seemingly natural world, asking us to pay studied attention to its inhabitants. His poems force us to keep looking: at the betta fish trapped in its mason jar, the forest choked by invasive kudzu, the elephant wounded in a landmine blast. Through its relentless scrutiny and exacting care, this magisterial debut collection poses an impossible question: How can we reconcile a deep love for the world, in all its buzzing, wriggling aliveness, with an equally deep, self-destructive desire to leave it behind?\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Gardners","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":57503836602741,"sku":"9781324130666","price":12.99,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"url":"https:\/\/backstory.london\/products\/at-the-end-of-the-world-there-is-a-pond","provider":"Backstory","version":"1.0","type":"link"}