Is love born from duty, misplaced ideas of nobility or the thirst for dependence? Jerrold Yam's second poetry collection confronts the very act of creation, wrestling it from family, religion and sexuality—a triptych of forces that bears as much a promise for redemption as a capacity for cruelty and hurt. "The recurring motif then, in this collection, is the dichotomy between wholeness and brokenness, and that of creation and destruction, which the title – Scattered Vertebrae – bears out beautifully. … This second collection of his seems to be a deeply personal project that sears with its brutal honesty."

• The Straits Times " 'I don’t pretend to know why we are here' is the first line of Jerrold Yam’s second collection, written in the comet tail of his first. Do not expect any answers; between adolescent uncertainty and the fine edge of adulthood, Yam asks the questions we can hardly ask, relates the experiences we would rather ignore and articulates the impressions we never clarify. Do we love our families as much as we say? Why should we feel happy at a wedding? What did those boyish games of childhood really mean? And why should we be ashamed of lust? There is a narrative young people are supposed to accept about growing up, but it involves shutting your eyes to contradictions and the contrary experiences of people around you; Yam’s are fully open, and his gaze is sympathetic. He is young, prolific and smart enough to see that however deeply felt, however lyrical and sad, our own experiences are not – and can never be – the only truth."
• Jay Bernard