“Flèche”, the title of Mary Jean Chan’s poetry collection, means an aggressive offensive fencing technique and the author refers to her experience participating in the sport throughout several pieces. This central metaphor describes her process of literally arming herself in combat, but also poignantly suggests how she must battle against her identity being suppressed especially in white and non-queer spaces. The preface of this book points out that “We are defined against something, by what we are not and will never be.” The way in which the author must assert herself in opposition to this persistent and pernicious act of being characterized as what she is not is dynamically explored throughout these poems.
The collection seems to roughly follow a chronological progression from her childhood where she recounts tales and fables relayed about her ancestry to moving to the West and the awakening of same-sex desire to revisiting her family to introduce them to her partner. All the while, there’s an ongoing dialogue (both internal and verbal) with her mother where the past is ceaselessly pulled into the present. Some poems take on point of view of the mother, others recount scenes with her and one ‘Conversation with Fantasy Mother’ imagines a perfect coming out scenario where “You sieved my tears, added an egg, then baked a beautiful cake.” I found the progression of this complex relationship and the challenge of arriving at an amicable connection to be incredibly emotional. It’s beautiful how Chan pulls at different threads to convey the many ways she is indelibly tied to her mother.
The final point of the preface asserts that “This is a book of love poems.” The overwhelming feeling I was left with from reading this book is just that, a love for family and romantic partners which has been forged out of long-term strife and where all the need for defending oneself has finally been released.
