Adamantine
AUTHOR
Shin Yu Pai
Adamantine is a poetry collection by Shin Yu Pai that meditates on resilience, transformation, and the enduring qualities of both materials and memory. The title—referring to something unbreakable or diamond-hard—sets the tone for poems that explore strength in the face of impermanence. Pai weaves together personal narrative with observations of the physical world, examining how we forge meaning from fragments of experience. Her precise, crystalline language reflects the collection's thematic concerns, creating verses that are both delicate and durable. Through explorations of family history, cultural identity, and the natural landscape, Pai constructs a poetic architecture that honors what remains when everything else falls away. The collection showcases her distinctive voice—contemplative, visual, and attuned to the subtle connections between the tangible and intangible.
Reviews
"Adamantine bristles with taut, startling language that continues to yield surprises even after readers realize that they are at serious play within the fields of the human heart, a realm in which 'we must know when to give in."
— Carolyne Wright
"How wise of her to know that what is adamantine is the open heart. Fearless seeing, ancient mutterings on contemporary pathways and boulevards, inventive poetics, merciless memories and tender, knowing hands all take their proper place here."
— Peter Levitt
Shin Yu Pai was Civic Poet of Seattle (2023-2024) and is the recipient of the 2024 Shelley Memorial Award from the Poetry Society of America for poetic genius. She the author of 13 books, including most recently No Neutral (Empty Bowl, 2023). She is the recipient of awards from the The Academy of American Poets, City of Seattle’s Office of Arts & Culture, 4Culture, and The Awesome Foundation. She is a 2022 Artist Trust Fellow and was shortlisted in 2014 for a Stranger Genius Award in Literature. From 2015 to 2017, Shin Yu served as Poet Laureate for The City of Redmond. Her writing has appeared in Atlas Obscura, Tricycle Magazine, YES! Magazine, NYTimes, Zocalo Public Square, Seattle Met, ParentMap, Seattle’s Child, International Examiner, and South Seattle Emerald. Her work has appeared in publications throughout the U.S., Japan, China, Taiwan, the UK, and Canada.