Tuesday
With her talent and wisdom, Kim Chinquee is able to flirt dangerously with both poetry and fiction, and create provocative art. Her newest book Pretty is no exception. Although Pretty is part of the Marie Alexander Poetry series, many of the stories still have the same urgency as flash fiction-- as well as the beautiful precision of poetry.
Pretty is divided into three sections: Oh, honey; What Rookies Were; and I Was Never Good at Science. Within these sections, a distinct thread pulls each story together. She brings the reader right to the center of moments, as if looking at the scene with a microscope. Every detail is a loud whisper. Nothing is missed. This type of intimacy causes the reader to feel the aches and pains of her characters, but what's more startling is how the writing also brings clarity and hope through such overwhelming intensity.
A perfect example is in her story "The Girl." Identity and allusion are confused. The physical is so loud. Chinquee forces the reader into the lives of these characters, into the pain, abuse, and the love:
When her baby cried, she'd lift him up and bounce him. Her hip was bruised from the time her husband pushed her. He had the car. It was his car. It was his house. It was his paycheck. He was at practice, teaching girls to hit the puck. He would ask her to pretend that she was younger, polishing her nails while she let him do things to her. She pictured the baby asleep, the ham in the freezer. The girl. He would say thank you. He would say thank you, thank you, thank you, collapsing into her arms like a toddler.
"The Girl" like other stories, shows the reader a moment in which someone has to make a decision, and the reader is just as responsible for the answer. Additionally, each story deserves more care. There's a simplistic, complex nature behind the writing, and her stories seek care and devotion.
What I love most about Chinquee's writing is the honesty and the experience. There's a freshness to the writing, because she handles her readers so well. Her words go deeper than I've ever been. She strips life down to its nakedness. There's something to expose, and Chinquee knows the truth. Pretty is full of wisdom. When you finish reading, you'll feel humbled and quite satisfied.
About the Author
Jess Bouchard, originally from upstate New York, is an alumni of Concordia University in Portland, OR, and is currently in her MFA program at Rosemont College. She mainly writes poetry but is recently very involved in flash fiction and prose. Currently, she's working on a book of poetry in her attic bedroom. 
For further reading, check out FlashFiction.Net's suggested readings of flash fiction and prose poetry collections, anthologies, and craft books, by clicking here.
