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Miracle Fruit

by Aimee Nezhukumatathil

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The Women's Review of Books

May 2004

Three Debuts

by Miriam Sagan

Aimee Nezhukumatathil's first book Miracle Fruit is distinguished by a lively approach both to life and poetry. In the collection, three worlds collide: her mother's Philippines; her father's India; and her own contemporary America. The collision is a source of inspiration, as in "One Bite":

Miracle fruit changes the tongue.
    One bite,
and for hours all you eat is sweet.
    Placed
alone on the saucer, it quivers like
    it's cold
from the ceramic, even in this
    Florida heat.             (Prelude)

These poems deal not just with culture but also with language and how words mutate and acquire meaning. In "Fishbone," food, words and meaning all combine:

At dinner, my mother says if one
    gets stuck
in your throat, roll some rice into
    a ball
and swallow it whole. She says
    things
like this and the next thing out of
    her mouth

is did you know Madonna is pregnant?
                                                (p.3)

In "Falling Thirds," the poet looks at connections that transcend differences:

Across the world, when children
call out for a friend, their mother,

their favorite white goatÑthey
    have
the same intonation, the same fall
and lilt of their voice, no matter

their language...                     (p.17)

The language of these poems seems to be handled effortlessly; it is both crafted and conversational. The poems in Miracle Fruit aim to create harmony and to make the ordinary magical — and they succeed.