False Offering

by Rita Mookerjee

False Offering is equal parts rage and rebellion. Mookerjee deftly traces the outrage of a brown femme body in a world where 'white space would always be looming behind,' where she chooses to be a 'gilded thistle,' where her 'ashes will glitter, residue in a dragon's wake.' A rambunctious and important debut that everyone should read.
-SJ Sindu, Blue-Skinned Gods

Though an intoxicating mix of "nectar and venom" makes it great fun to watch her take down the false gods of American exceptionalism, Rita Mookerjee's main business is praise. Rooted in love of the South Asian diaspora, this powerhouse debut documents what it takes to resist assimilation, survive white spaces, and confront Infidels for Trump.
-Brian Teare, Doomstead Days

Rita Mookerjee's False Offering is a bad bitch, is a heathen's hearth, is a sexy romp through selfhood and lineage, is venom breaking apart the fuckery of empire and white supremacy. These visceral poems are ripe with rage and howl for kinship, for ancestral care and ask: how can we find safety in this world? False Offering is "marked for chaos," and I have a kink for chaos.
-Jane Wong, How to Not Be Afraid of Everything

Genres: Poetry

84 pages, Paperback

Published November 15, 2023

Reviews

[Gabriel Noel · Rating 5 out of 5]

ARC given by Edelweiss+ for Honest Review

A manifesto of rage sealed with a lipstick kiss.

Well written and invigorating. The backdrop of Mookerjee's culture couples with a feminist take to leave readers feeling sated and ready for more.

My favorite poems are: "In Diaspora", "This Is Not A Form of Play", and "First Day As A Ghost."

[Liv · Rating 4 out of 5]

I liked a lot of the poems, my favorite was I dated God for awhile/ It's just okay.

[Ashur]

Hoping for more collections from this poet in the future!

[Lindsay Sproul · Rating 5 out of 5]

What a banger.

[Kim · Rating 5 out of 5]

Not a perfect collection, and certainly a misnamed one, but I fell in love with the voice and poems here. There is a flirtation with essayistic hybridity, which is compelling.

Honestly, I was completely undone by the poem “Truly” and had to rewatch Chitty Chitty Bang Bang immediately to fawn over her dresses and hats.

[Kristiana · Rating 5 out of 5]

Whenever I finish a poetry collection with several pages bookmarked, I know it's moved me and that it'll stay with me. Mookerjee's False Offering is a collection of this calibre. Entwining religious expectation with modern living alongside the battlefield that is Westernisation, Mookerjee writes masterfully about womanhood, racial discrimination, and becoming.

"I am no / child of Brahmagupta, but I see past painted idols and glass kings." [Common Era]

Poems such as 'In Diaspora' and 'A Man Threatens to Shoot Me on Behalf of 'Infidels for Trump' explore a conversation and criticism central to False Offering, that of the hypocrisy within cultures, especially for those born across boundaries and borders. There is a sense of never truly belonging, with Western culture and ancestral heritage turning away from you. Mookerjee's voice is powerful - it bears great humility but also razor sharp wit to cut down ideologies which only seek to destroy.

While the gorgeous tribute to R.J. in 'Lesson from the Oracle Who Had Seen Too Much' demonstrates Mookerjee's heart as she also draws our undivided attention to the human cost of using one's voice. These poems embody the exhaustion which undoubtedly follows having to advocate for yourself every single hour of every day.

'how my body is a thing to be modified / the way monarch butterflies / cover a deer carcass at the roadside' [Origami in Lieu of Klonopin]

False Offering is fresh, stunningly written, and much needed in regards to how many collections exploring womanhood in particular, are written by privileged white women.