Picture Bride (Yale Series of Younger Poets) [Paperback]

Cathy Song (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: September 10, 1983 | Series: Yale Series of Younger Poets

Poems portray people's journeys and migrations and pay homage to the art of the American painter, Georgia O'Keeffe, and a Japanese printmaker.

Editorial Reviews

Review

Beauty And Sadness
Birthmarks
Blue And White Lines After O'keeffe: 1. Black Iris
Blue And White Lines After O'keeffe: 2. Sunflowre For Maggie
Blue And White Lines After O'keeffe: 3. An Orchid
Blue And White Lines After O'keeffe: 4. Red Poppy
Blue And White Lines After O'keeffe: 5. White Trumpet Flower
Blue Lantern
Chinatown
Chinatown: 2
Chinatown: 3
Chinatown: 4
Chinatown: 5
A Dream Of Small Children
Easter: Wahiawa, 1959: 1
Easter: Wahiawa, 1959: 2
Father And Daughter
For A.j.: On Finding She's On Her Boat To China
For My Brother
From The White Place: 1. Blue Bones: Ghost Ranch
From The White Place: 2. Memories, Gallery 291
From The White Place: 3. From The White Place
Girl Powdering Her Neck
Hoolehua
Hotel Geneve
Ikebana
January
Leaving
Lost Sister
Lost Sister: 2
A Pale Arrangement Of Hands
Picture Bride
Primary Colors
The Seamstress: 1
The Seamstress: 2
The Seamstress: 3
Seed
Spaces We Leave Empty
Stray Animals
Tribe
Untouched Photograph Of Passenger
The Violin Teacher
Waialua
The White Porch
The Youngest Daughter
-- Table of Poems from Poem Finder®

Product Details

• Paperback: 89 pages
• Publisher: Yale University Press (September 10, 1983)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0300029691
• ISBN-13: 978-0300029697
• Product Dimensions: 7.8 x 5.1 x 0.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 4 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #587,418 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

3.0 out of 5 stars All beautiful poems, but this feels a bit dated now..., November 26, 2011

By 

Ravi C. (San Francisco, CA United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Picture Bride (Yale Series of Younger Poets) (Paperback)

This book was, I believe, the first book by an Asian American to win the Yale Younger Series of Poets Award. For that, it deserves to be read and respected.

My mood changed, though, as I read this book. Initially, I found it very beautiful - well composed, clean, and pleasant. As I kept reading, though, I found myself a little annoyed by all the "asian-ey" elements. Bamboo, shakuhachi, jacaranda, Utamaro, etc. Now, I think there's nothing inherently wrong with Asian imagery, it just felt like I got too big a dose of it here. All so idealized, stereotyped and archetypal. I can't recall reading much shadow in her lines - but this was written when she was 27. Perhaps I should read her more recent work to see how she's evolved.

I found this book through Hyphen Magazine's Winter 2011 profile of poetry. They wrote PICTURE BRIDE is "infused with rich painterly imagery and a contemplative, quiet tone...Song's poems tell stories about her ancestral and artistic roots. 'I am not surprised / by how little the world changes' she professes, as her poems capture the timelessness of memories in their continual influence on the present.

I can't argue with that rendering - this book is well worth a read, and perhaps a re-read. But on this first read, I was only somewhat satisfied.

1 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Ever so eloquent., April 2, 2008

By 

S.L.I. "Suze" (Honolulu) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Picture Bride (Yale Series of Younger Poets) (Paperback)

I first read this collection while in college in the early 90's. I'm also an Asian-American girl from Hawaii so I could relate to many of her themes, but you do not need to be Asian or from Hawaii to appreciate her lovely poetry. As she likes to describe herself, she is "a poet who happens to be Asian American." My favorites in this collection are "The White Porch", "Chinatown" (I think that's the name...I don't have the book in front of me right now..), "Picture Bride" and "The Spaces We Leave Empty".