POP
Softening concrete poetry with humour and tenderness, POP takes an uncommon perspective on modern poetic traditions, combining deft lyricism with visual poems for a playful romp.
POP rummages through the stale Cheetos after the love poem: what remains? What never existed to begin with? The book invites the reader to journey both forward and backward in time, to retrace steps, solve word searches, hold pages to the light. POP delineates the intensities of a volatile relationship through a variety of lenses. As the speaker tries to anchor her experience, she is met with a clamour of perspectives: it is a junk food fight of poetic styles, each line fried and seasoned using recipes passed down for generations; it is a sad clown’s skincare routine; it is a singalong, a cartoonish cacophony of pots and puns. The speaker shakes the love poem for all it’s worth, leaving behind a trail of lint, wrappers, fibs, and soap foam, but opening up enough space to move in herself.
Awards
- Winner, ReLit Award for Poetry 2021
Reviews
"Moving through a variety of poem-structures, including more traditional lyric structures, prose poems, drawings and visual poems, Banu becomes the explorer, fearlessly pushing out into the unknown." – rob mclennan
"Simina Banu excels at wordplay with an exceptional range of forms, including visual and concrete poems. Nothing is predictable, and you never know what you’ll find or feel when you turn the page. One thing is certain: the poems are clever, playful, and tragic." – Cora Siré, Montreal Review of Books
"Banu’s poetry celebrates those who speak of love and loss in the language of emojis and memes, and have had our hearts broken by a text a message." – Megan N. Liberty, Hyperallergic
"POP, Simina Banu’s debut collection of poetry, begins where other poets refuse to go. It defies silence, seriousness and romance, infiltrating a quiet room with the crackle of an opened Doritos bag. POP makes a noise because of its freshness, a reminder that poetry can be serious while fun, and funny while ominous." – Leehu Sigler, Event Magazine