Box of Surprises by Teresa Peipins

Finishing Line Press, 2009
Review by Jamie Elizabeth Marko

The question of identity is a constant struggle for most Americans. We boldly declare our heritage, if we are lucky enough to know it, assuming that our ancestral homes innately impart some deeper meaning to our sense of self. What does it mean to be Irish? And how does that change when one is also German or Finnish or Russian? And can any of that be relevant when one is born American?

Teresa Peipins confronts identity in her collection of poems entitles “Box of Surprises.” Having lived outside of the States for twenty years, Peipins takes us through the journey of connecting with the ancestral land while living as a foreigner. While visiting Latvia, her parental home, she grapples with Europe’s dark history that forced mass diaspora throughout the 19th and 20th centuries. She questions the lives of her family, what was known and unknown, what was spoken and unspoken. Conversely, she details the curiosities of living, loving, and surviving abroad through her experiential Barcelona-based pieces. She takes the reader along the sun-soaked countryside without neglecting the dusty suffocation of cities.

Stylistically, Peipins provides clean, tight description. “Recognition: On Visiting Latvia” (p 5-6) paints a simple picture of arrival and discovery that captures the curiosity and pain of discovery. “Box of Surprises” (p 9) is cohesive prose in which she brings the stifling scents of the past that paradoxically open up her sense of history in her life abroad. It is deftly crafted without a word misplaced.

Peipins does, however, write from a very feminine perspective; she employs many references to water with images of pounding waves, submerged worlds, and swimming through oceans. She also refers to childbirth several times. Although this is not a criticism in and of itself, breaking away from typically feminine verse would likely provide Peipins with a wider readership.
That being said, Peipins aptly and beautifully questions who she is. In doing so, she helps the readers question themselves. What does it mean to be an American? What does it mean to live abroad? What does it mean to be a woman outside of her home? For anyone who has wondered, take comfort in Peipins exploration of self.

Jamie Elizabeth Marko is a PhD student at the University of Buffalo, specializing in cultural identity and power relationships in language.

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