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The Passion of the Rabbit God
The Rabbit God: protector of queer hearts across East Asia. Can this ancient myth help rewrite our tomorrows?
Hongwei Bao’s debut collection charts an emotional journey through centuries and between nations, with the poet’s own migration from Inner Mongolia to Nottingham offering a unique, fascinating perspective through which to examine Asian and queer identity.
These are poems which hop energetically over any and all borders. Scenes of everyday heartache give way to fireworks of rage and joy, while intimate examinations of relationships and desire sit alongside politically charged pieces – as the poet contrasts injustices from ancient China with those from present-day England.
In verses alive with longing and resistance, Bao’s poems ask: what does it mean to love, defy, and bloom as a queer, Asian soul in our ever-changing world?
Hongwei Bao’s debut collection charts an emotional journey through centuries and between nations, with the poet’s own migration from Inner Mongolia to Nottingham offering a unique, fascinating perspective through which to examine Asian and queer identity.
These are poems which hop energetically over any and all borders. Scenes of everyday heartache give way to fireworks of rage and joy, while intimate examinations of relationships and desire sit alongside politically charged pieces – as the poet contrasts injustices from ancient China with those from present-day England.
In verses alive with longing and resistance, Bao’s poems ask: what does it mean to love, defy, and bloom as a queer, Asian soul in our ever-changing world?
- GenresPoetry
82 pages, Paperback
Published July 11, 2024
36 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews
September 15, 2024
Really beautiful - poems about queer chinese myths, history & culture, as well as personal poems about the author’s life and experience living in the uk as a queer chinese man.
December 31, 2024
the most perfect book to finish the year.
“I’ve never known
what a perfect world
looks like, and never
will. But that’s ok,
as long as i can still
read and write
about the things
i love and care about
in my small
and imperfect world
of restricted vision.”
❤️
“I’ve never known
what a perfect world
looks like, and never
will. But that’s ok,
as long as i can still
read and write
about the things
i love and care about
in my small
and imperfect world
of restricted vision.”
❤️
January 7, 2025
'Is the curve you drew/ with your own body, descending/ from a high rise, pulled/ down by gravity, breaking/ the chilly spring wind/ a line of beauty?'... 'I want to tell you/ your smile,/ your body,/ your heart,/ have the most beautiful curves/ I have ever seen/ in this dusty,/ secular,/ suffocating/ city.'
January 26, 2026
He's definitely my favourite poet.
I love the simplicity of his style, nevertheless so much meaningful.
every time I start reading something by him, I can’t stop myself, it’s like a flow, a delicious flow.
"what you imagine yourself to be: a happy family of nations, till the final votes, in a welcoming place (except for migrants and refugees), on a peaceful continent (where wars are raging on). " eurovision
I love the simplicity of his style, nevertheless so much meaningful.
every time I start reading something by him, I can’t stop myself, it’s like a flow, a delicious flow.
"what you imagine yourself to be: a happy family of nations, till the final votes, in a welcoming place (except for migrants and refugees), on a peaceful continent (where wars are raging on). " eurovision
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August 19, 2024Sensual, moving, and subversive.
Favourite poems: Confession of the Rabbit God, Qu Yuan, Butterfly Lovers, Chang'e, The World's End, Haunted Village.
Favourite poems: Confession of the Rabbit God, Qu Yuan, Butterfly Lovers, Chang'e, The World's End, Haunted Village.
Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews