Super Model Minority

by Chris Tse

It's the end of the world and Chris Tse has lost his chill. In Super Model Minority he completes a loose trilogy of books – from the historical racism of How to be Dead in a Year of Snakes to a queer coming of age in HE'S SO MASC; by looking to a future where 'it's enough to look up at a sky blushing red and see possibility'. From making boys cry with the power of poetry to hitting back against microaggressions and sucker punches, these irreverent and tender poems dive head first into race and sexuality with rage and wit, while embracing everyday moments of joy to fortify the soul. Super Model Minority is a riotous walk through the highs and lows of modern life with one of New Zealand's most audacious contemporary poets.

Genres: Poetry, Queer, LGBT

114 pages, Kindle Edition

First published January 1, 2022

Reviews

[Vanessa · Rating 5 out of 5]

stunning!!

[Emma · Rating 5 out of 5]

Chris’ poetry is knife sharp and then disarmingly tender. Such territory covered in this substantial collection. New heights for a loved and celebrated writer.

[kea · Rating 5 out of 5]

this took me two separate renewals with my library to finish bc i kept reading one poem and having to put the book down for a few days. in particular with auckland in the state it's in — pride month and events being cancelled because the community centres hosting them are now refuge from two natural disasters in a row — chris's powerful voice about being left behind and too far ahead and looking into the detritus of our overheated future and being unapologetically, exhaustedly queer is... well, it hits right, right now. whimsical and grave and never once anything but strongly voiced.

[Simon Sweetman · Rating 5 out of 5]

Chris seemingly arrived fully formed, and then gets better with each collection of his poems. A master of his craft - funny, deep, wistful and wise. I love these poems.

[JJ]

Meh.

[Te Aniwaniwa · Rating 3 out of 5]

Authentic and vulnerable. Always feels great reading a different & strong perspective. It is a fortunate time to be alive: where you can read from different cultures that are now included in mainstream media. There is an interconnectedness with oppressed peoples too. We need to read other writers, of other cultures, with complex ethnic identities, it proves that there isn't one dominant way to live as human beings and that it should never have been about morality (differences I mean)

Basically it's dope reading other people's experience of whiteness and being marginalized, and being in solidarity at all the different intersects

[Kylie · Rating 4 out of 5]

I've been meaning to read more poetry, and Chris Tse is the current NZ poet laureate and in that very NZ way, a friend of friend, so I started with his latest volume. I really enjoyed it! I had to get my brain back into reading-poetry mode, but once I did it was nice to sit back in the sun with a coffee and read this.

His poems were in turns beautiful, impactful (dealing with issues such as racism and homophobia), emotional and also amusing (the one about playing Cards Against Humanity with your Mother) and also did some cool things with structure. I'd recommend this.

[Danielle · Rating 3 out of 5]

There were some stand out and stand-alone lines in this collection where it would be wrong for me to rate this lower. However, the compilation of sentences all together with disparate images and subjects made the poem at times feel lost.

Tse’s best poems, I felt, were ones where he kept to a consistent theme. The poems closer to the end around how we treat nature and the past were the strongest… just wish there was more of it at the beginning.

[Emily Fletcher · Rating 3 out of 5]

'My favourite type of gay porn is when two men talk about their day and nobody dies.'
3.5 An intriguing collection - some poems felt more cohesive and emotive for more for me than others.
My favourites were the Vexillology poems, Whats Fun Until It Gets Weird, and Identity Theft for the End of the World.

[ocean jade · Rating 4 out of 5]

chris tse is my king fr

[Philippa · Rating 5 out of 5]

"Learn to live with your own discomfort, to unshackle your hang-ups and enter every all-staff meeting with the confidence of an anti-vaxxer sharing 'research' on Facebook." Words to live by.

[Ruby Cumming · Rating 5 out of 5]

I saw Chris Tse perform one of his poems at Show Ponies a few years ago, I'm not sure which one. He's been on my radar as a good poet since then, and this book of his poetry did not disappoint.

[Tutankhamun18 · Rating 2 out of 5]

Not the collection for me, but still enjoyed reading.

Racism and microaggressions in the context of New Zealand and internationally. Queer joy and identity explored through wordy poems.

[Zachary Ngow · Rating 5 out of 5]

I especially loved 'The Magician'