Beyond Heart Mountain: Poems (National Poetry Series) (Paperback)

~ (Author) "Miss Yamada knew if a girl was tall and thin, or short and plump, by the sound of her voice, and she also knew if..." (more)
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Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Many poets have sought to reconcile war's irreversible alteration of the normal course of human lives and memories. In this debut narrative triptych, selected by Ishmael Reed for the National Poetry Series, Roripaugh manages to bring a history she never experienced through her own past, to her present self. The first section is written from the perspective of a young Vietnam-era girl trying to piece together a multiple identity from within a small Wyoming town. The icons of her Japanese heritageAdolls, bells, music, and foodAare a source of pride and confusion: "I'm half-and-half, and I hide/ in the house, listen to my parents'/ music. Outside on the pavement/ a tsuzumi drum, accompanied by suzu,/ temple bells, coming from their/ bedroomAthe chime on my father's/ typewriter." The second section, "Heart Mountain, 1943," tells the stories of 10 Japanese prisoners held at the Heart Mountain internment camp, weaving together polyvocal narrative fragments that talk to the reader (and each other) across the stark walls of the cell blocks. Part three of the book includes poems told from the perspective of an older and self-assured woman who has embraced the cultural contrasts of her complicated ancestry, and can now separate the shadow of war from her own psychic and personal growth: "...leaf prints etched in black mold, like/ the pattern of/ a kimono found burned into/ a woman after/ Hiroshima, and it is almost/ too beautiful, / too horrible for me to bear." Such images may not, finally, reconcile war and grief with aesthetics, but the book's drive toward clarity and strength is often moving. (June)
Copyright 1999 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Library Journal

Ishmael Reed's choice for this year's "National Poetry" series is easy to like: a first collection born, like its author, from the union of a United States military man and a Japanese woman during World War II. Roripaugh, who is also a pianist with a performance degree from Indiana University, convincingly re-creates her mother's war-bound world in clear, concise free verse, fusing classical Japanese poetic imageryAchrysanthemums, the moon, kimono sleevesAwith the violence of war, occupation, and internment in the United States: "She says/ oysters make them, when there's/ sand or gravel under their shells./ It hurts. And the more it hurts/ the bigger the pearl." American racism and cruelty is detailed in "Heart Mountain, 1943," a long first-person narrative about an internment camp; in the prose poem "Chrysanthemums," the poet's mother recounts childhood koto lessons cut short by war. Other narrators are ghosts, or spirit-lovers, a classical Japanese conceit that resonates in light of recent history. But most of all these are the poems of a girl in the land-locked American West, where an Asian American may be treated only slightly better than a Native American, and squid in a sink smells like a lost country. This is a fine first collection.AEllen Kaufman, Dewey Ballantine Law Lib., New York
Copyright 1999 Reed Business Information, Inc.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 70 pages
• Publisher: Penguin (Non-Classics) (June 1, 1999)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0140589201
• ISBN-13: 978-0140589207
• Product Dimensions: 8.4 x 5.5 x 0.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 3.8 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (6 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #1,049,307 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Music for the mind, and soul, July 31, 1999

By A Customer

There is much to be said about poetry with language so finely chiseled it cuts through the page. Roripaugh's words are a feast for the senses. Myth, history, culture, and memory are but a few of the rich ingredients in this dazzling book of poems. Definitely one of the best books of poetry I've read this year.

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Large Passion, February 28, 2000

By	k'nth (Pusan, Korea) - See all my reviews

A large passion guides these poems from the first line to the last. From tragedy to simple pleasures, an entire range of human emotions is chronicled in this unique collection of poems. Beyond Heart Mountain is a moving experience; a great addition to your library and life.

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A new voice not to be missed!, June 7, 1999

By	Jon Tribble (Carbondale, IL USA) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

"Beyond Heart Mountain" is a powerful first book. These poems bring together history and the personal narratives that are shaped by the forces in the world around them, and, in turn, shape identity. Lee Ann Roripaugh's craft is only surpassed by the intelligence she brings to these explorations of the human heart struggling against the rejections the world can level against it. Her prose poems, graceful narratives, and sensual lyric poems are equally able to contain heartbreak and humor, disappointment and celebration. I highly recommend this book.