The Lengest Neoi (Iowa Poetry Prize)

The Lengest Neoi embraces and complicates what it means to err--to wander or go astray; a deviation from a code of behavior or truth; a mistake, flaw, or defect. Beginning with the collection's title, which combines a colloquial Cantonese phrase (Leng Neoi / "Pretty Girl") and the English suffix for the superlative degree (--est), these poems wander, deviate, and flow across bodies, geographies, and languages. In this collection from Stephanie Choi, you'll find the poet's "tongue writing herself, learning to speak."