num_pages: 142
description: Fiercely devoted to the margins of life in the generation after the devastating first wave of the AIDS epidemic, this cathartic collection of poems explores illness, travel, contagion, the meaning of home, identity, tainted purity, and the bits of life that contain them and hold them together in spite of the harsh exigency of daily life. In more than 40 pieces, Chin fearlessly delivers everything from his first exposure to science ("Magnified") to a mail order fantasy experience ("I Buy Sea Monkeys"); from backroads travel in Asia ("Little Everest in Your Palm") to the plight of immigrants in America ("The Men's Restroom at the INS Building"). Chin's brutal honesty and sharp humor frame a profound and original collection.
language: English
title: Harmless Medicine
titlecomplete: Harmless Medicine
genres: LGBT, Poetry
ratings_count: 43
awards: awardedAt: 978336000000
name: Lambda Literary Award
category: Gay Poetry, awardedAt: 1009872000000
name: The Publishing Triangle Award
category: The Thom Gunn Award for Gay Poetry
publisher: Manic D Press, Inc.