News of Home (A. Poulin, Jr. New Poets of America) [Paperback]

Debra Kang Dean (Author), Colette Inez (Foreword)

Book Description

Series: A. Poulin, Jr. New Poets of America | Publication Date: September 1, 1998

Poems that remindus "there is always a habitable place, / the farthest outpost of solitude nothing can touch,/where there is time, there is always time."

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

"News of Home" is the 19th volume in the prestigious A. Poulin New Poets of America series. Debra Kang Dean brings a unique perspective to her poetry in this collection--that of a woman born in Hawaii to parents of Korean and Okinawan ancestry. Her connections to family are strong, as in "Heal-All: In Memory of Kana Nakama" about her grandmother and "the memory of how to move past grief/ ...clearer than any words or photographs: / you, Grandmother, raking wet leaves." Or when she speaks of the real boss of the family, her mother, the images are even more vivid: "I have walked / a long time in my mother's zoris, spanked, scowled / and scolded my own child into submission / almost against my will."

Yet in the midst of family, the theme of being an outsider appears again and again, most apparent in the section of poems called "Homing Pidgin." In Kang Dean's poem "Pineapple," she tells us: "they call my father's people Yobo, kimchee, / the Irish of the East." In such a multicultural environment, even the languages merge and mix. The poem "Hawaiian Time" combines Hawaiian words with Asian English dialectics in a lighthearted banter: "What time stay? / According to my skin getting darker-- / Eh, I pack / pine so can go / holoholo, buy / pakalolo." A mixture of wry humor and candid observations about difference, Kang Dean's poetry is delightful. --Susan Swartwout

Review

Aloha, Aina
Back To Back
Because I Could Not Go Home For My Aunt's Funeral
Becoming One Of The Guys
Blue Apartments
Bruises
Calling From The Gate
Catch And Release
The Corsage
Courage, Temperance, And Wisdom
Distance
Fidelity
Fishing The Sky
Hawaiian Time
Heal-all: In Memory Of Kana Nakama
The Hollow
Homing Pidgin
Immigrants
In My Father's House
In The Way Back
Inside My House
Island Fever
Marginalia: Honolulu, 1970
New Year's Eve
No Pilikia; Or, Piece Of Cake
Obake
On The Eve Of My Thirty-fifth Birthday
Pineapples
Proteus
Prothalamion: Of My Brother In Los Angeles
Smoke
Spheres Of Influence
Stitches
Syllabus
Taproot
The Weep Line
Wild Horse Island
With My Mother And Aunts In The Kitchen
World Enough
-- Table of Poems from Poem Finder®

Product Details

• Paperback: 90 pages
• Publisher: BOA Editions Ltd.; 1st edition (September 1, 1998)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1880238667
• ISBN-13: 978-1880238660
• Product Dimensions: 9 x 6 x 0.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 4.6 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #3,982,579 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Exploring subjects of immigration and the meaning of "home", September 6, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: News of Home (A. Poulin, Jr. New Poets of America) (Paperback)

Debra Kang Dean is a poet whose grasp of form allows her poems to work simultaneously on the levels of mind and music. These poems embody immigrant experience with an uncommon grace as well as a fighting spirit. One of the poems, "Taproot" appears in "Best American Poetry 1999."