Gingko Kitchen

Beryl Baigent is a poet; her published collections include Absorbing the
Dark, Hiraeth: In Search of Celtic Origins, Triptych: Virgins, Victims,
Votives, and Mystic Animals.

Bak’s title is misleading, and the gingko leaf imprinted as a
frontispiece belies the language, overt sexuality, harshness, and
rampant emotions expressed in this volume. As a tree fancier, I opened
the book with interest, wondering how this young poet, who is the
coordinator of Slant, Canada’s first television magazine to explore
Asian-Canadian art and culture, would present the most sacred tree in
Eastern mythology—a tree that has played an important role in
traditional Chinese medicine since 2800 BC.

The title poem is found in the third part of the book, which contains
poems with vague culinary references. Woman is “cum-vessel for
rice.” She is the “kernel of life they call whore.” The only
reference to gingko appears in a line that mentions memory. In
traditional herbalism, the gingko is linked with improved memory, the
treatment of high blood pressure, and increased longevity.

In Part 1, Leftovers, the poems present a picture of violence. Despite
a nine-page glossary of Cantonese and other terminology, many passages
are difficult to access and are not presented with either poetic or
imagistic conviction. Frequently, puns or word dislocations take the
place of metaphor and symbol, as in: “throaty-voiced
Renfre(unde)measures / time by the tick-talk-tick-talk / around her clit
clock / deposed by Desire’s dross-biting wiles / which reduce her
resolve to spiro tocsin.”

In Part 2, Burning Down the House, the first poem sets the tone with
its title, “Prick.” Then we read about “Ghost-shagging,” about
gardening tomatoes “cut in half / to juice-beslobber his penis,” and
about the wai tu yang girl who ponders “whether her waiting cunt / is
slanted to match her eyes.”

Bak obviously takes her craft seriously, and there will no doubt be
many readers who will enjoy her ability to manipulate syntax and
vocabulary. I still wonder why she chose to evoke the gingko. As co-host
of Sex City on CIUT-FM, perhaps she feels the need to stave off the
aging process.