Tell It Slant. Sound familiar? Yau's title is a double-entendre that references Emily Dickinson's famous line "Tell all the truth but tell it slant--" (often taken as advice for the aspiring poet), but also slyly alludes to a rise in anti-Asian American violence, particularly in Yau's hometown of New York City (check out the epigraphs). It's also a lovely book that engages deeply with Yau's knowledge of the visual arts world, enacting dialogues with genre fiction and delivering those explorations through the observations and adventures of a cast of poetic personae drawn in part from Chinese and American literary traditions. Overall, the book is funny, politically incisive, sad, and thoughtful, more often than not -- all at the same time.