The Year of Blue Water

Winner of the 2018 Yale Series of Younger Poets prize

“Weaves together descriptions of experiences of immigration as a Chinese-American and of racism, mental wellness, and gender from a queer and trans perspective.”—Publishers Weekly

2020 Lambda Literary Awards finalist transgender poetry category

How can a search for self‑knowledge reveal art as a site of community? The Year of Blue Water by Yanyi features arresting and straightforward poems that weave experiences of immigration as a Chinese American, of racism, of mental wellness, and of gender from a queer and trans perspective. Between the contrast of high lyric and direct prose poems, Yanyi invites the reader to consider how to speak with multiple identities through trauma, transition, and ordinary life.

These poems constitute an artifact of a groundbreaking and original author, whose work reflects a long journey self‑guided through tarot, therapy, and the arts. Foregrounding the power of friendship, Yanyi’s poems converse with friends as much as with artists both living and dead, from Agnes Martin to Maggie Nelson to Robin Coste Lewis. This instructive collection gives voice to the multifaceted humanity within all of us and inspires attention, clarity, and hope through art-making and community.