The Speaker (Vuong)

The primary character of “Devotion” is the first-person speaker of the poem, arguably equatable with Vuong himself, owing to the lyricism and subjectivity of the verse. This emphasis on self expression throughout the body of “Devotion” is maintained through the pairing of self-referential first-person pronouns with highly detailed imagery, through which Vuong grants us, as the speaker, access to his inner life and emotions. For example, in the middle of “Devotion,” at its emotional climax where he makes the most ostensible reference to the religious themes hinted at earlier on by even the title, he writes about how, “I press mine [my tongue] / to the navel’s familiar / whorl, molasses threads / descending toward / devotion. & there’s nothing / more holy than holding / a man’s heartbeat between / your teeth, sharpened / with too much / air” (13-22). Note the visceral energy of this imagery. In using imagery to create...