Loveliest Grotesque

Kore Press, 2006

Winner of the Kore Press First Book Award

“Loveliest Grotesque is a darkly fascinating book. It’s a sweet, shape-shifting creature and a fun, postmodern romp. Lim casts vibrant spins on overused Asian American tropes: a ‘red population’ could mean paprika, an Alex Katz painting or a ‘Dog Cat.’ Finally, the slippery slope of too much fun might stop for a nano moment to contemplate an important existential question: ‘Why were there manatees at all?’ Obviously, the answer is this: after 9/11, in the new millennium, all formal discourses must explode, splinter, and fragment and coalesce again into a stunning, new voice.”

—Marilyn Chin, prize citation

Praise For Loveliest Grotesque

“Under Sandra Lim’s steerage words regain their liveliness. Loveliest Grotesque is something grand, something glorious. Finally we have a return to the kinds of awakenings only poetry can provide.”

—Claudia Rankine

“This is work Frank O’Hara would aspire to if he had to be more protective about his delight.”

—Charles Altieri