Momtaza Mehri is a poet and essayist and was Young People’s Poet Laureate for London in 2018. Her work has appeared in Vogue, Granta, Poetry International, and elsewhere
A white lotus bears too much meaning. In Buddhist tradition, lotuses represent spiritual purification and supreme enlightenment. Nirvana is especially elusive in The White Lotus, HBO’s latest stinging satire set in the tropical confines of a Hawaiian resort. The show is populated by a bevy of affluent holidaymakers whose worst impulses are activated by too much sun, sand and suspicion. At first, we are thrown into the aftermath of a whodunnit and its attendant cargo labelled “Human Remains”. Tragedy unfurls in reverse as bouncy newlyweds Shane (Jake Lacy) and Rachel (Alexandra Daddario) arrive at the White Lotus resort with a soon-to-be-dampened enthusiasm.
