Accepting invisibility? Experiences of exclusion in Grace Lau’s poetry

Abstract

In her poetry collection The Language We Were Never Taught to Speak (2021), Grace Lau, a Hong Kong-born Chinese Canadian poet, showcases different experiences of exclusion and inclusion, some connected to the long history of prejudice and discrimination. The aim of this article is to discuss depictions of three types of exclusion experienced by Lau – that of a postcolonial subject, a queer subject, and, finally, a queer subject of colour – and the impact those experiences have on her identity. The analysis of three of Lau’s poems – "Birth/Right”, “Another God”, and “Perfect Groupie” – provides an insight into her reflections on different instances of exclusion she experienced, whether motivated by her ethnicity and nationality, her sexual orientation, or the combination of both, and the impact they had on her identity as a queer postcolonial subject.