{"product_id":"sky-country","title":"Sky Country","description":"\u003ch4\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eA Paterson Poetry Prize finalist\u003c\/strong\u003e \u003cbr\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eOn \u003cem\u003eThe Brooklyn Rail\u003cspan\u003e’\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/em\u003es Best Books of 2017\u003c\/strong\u003e\n\u003c\/h4\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eChristine Kitano’s second poetry collection elicits a sense of hunger—an intense longing for home and an ache for human connection. Channeling both real and imagined immigration experiences of her own family—her grandmothers, who fled Korea and Japan; and her father, a Japanese American who was incarcerated during WWII—Kitano’s ambitious poetry speaks for those who have been historically silenced and displaced.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ch4\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e\u003cspan\u003e“\u003c\/span\u003ePersimmons\u003cspan\u003e”\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/h4\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\"\u003eMy mother calls them \u003c\/span\u003e\u003ci\u003e\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\"\u003egahm,\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\"\u003esavoring the round vowel.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\"\u003eWhen she pares off the skins,\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\"\u003eThey fall away like strips of ribbon.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\"\u003eClusters of firm, waxy planets\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\"\u003eslung low on a strained branch,\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\"\u003ethe tree a sudden stab of color\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\"\u003eon the drab East L.A. corner.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\"\u003eThe box arrives in fall, white\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\"\u003epostal service cardboard wet\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\"\u003ein the corners where the fruits\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\"\u003ehave already spilled their juice.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\"\u003eFaced with the open box, I think\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\"\u003emy mother’s word, but aloud exclaim\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\"\u003e“persimmons.” Persimmons,\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\"\u003ethe word in the only language I own.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ch4\u003e\u003cstrong\u003ePraise for\u003cem\u003e Sky Country\u003c\/em\u003e\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/h4\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan\u003e“The poems in \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cem\u003eSky Country\u003c\/em\u003e\u003cspan\u003e sound far from home, stricken with homesickness, and saturated with longing. While they include both personal and collective history, they’re spoken in the voice of someone strangely alienated from the former and unaccounted for and excluded from the latter. Beautiful and moving.”\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e—Li-Young Lee\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan\u003e“The poems in \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cem\u003eSky Country\u003c\/em\u003e\u003cspan\u003e weave, unravel, and stitch together history and time with such a fierce originality that the images buzz in the mind. Lyrically vibrant and sonically alive, Kitano’s gorgeous poems remind us that we are always linked to immigration, to the women that raised us, and it’s through our own language that we do the honoring.”\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e—Ada Limón\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan\u003e“Christine Kitano writes with clarity and honesty about displacement, deracination, and cultural identity. Her poems in this book convey the dignity of the immigrant in America, the ‘sky country’ of the title. In one of the most moving of them, ‘A Story with No Moral,’ we can see that indeed there is moral depth to all that she writes. She expresses that depth when she affirms, in 'Autobiography of the Poet at Sixteen,’ ‘we are built for life, \/ for love, which means \/ we are built for pain.’ These poems are testimonies of survival and we need their witness as much as ever.”\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e—Mark Jarman, author of\u003cspan\u003e \u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003cem\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eThe Heronry\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/em\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan\u003e“\u003c\/span\u003eKitano’s alluring, well-crafted poems are attuned to tragedy and loss, yet an element of wonder shines through.\u003cspan\u003e”\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e\u003ci\u003e—Publishers Weekly\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan\u003e“\u003c\/span\u003eCombing cultural and personal history, Kitano is generous in revealing her family lore and the emotional politics of settlement and displacement. Meant to firmly focus and guide the reader, her poems point to the tragedies and triumphs of living in a world that creates us and destroys us, sometimes all in one day.\u003cspan\u003e”\u003c\/span\u003e\u003ci\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e—Booklist\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e© BOA Editions, Ltd. 2017\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"BOA Editions, Ltd.","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":33013998857,"sku":"9781942683438","price":16.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0982\/0178\/products\/SkyCountry_CVR.jpg?v=1527683347","url":"https:\/\/shop.boaeditions.org\/products\/sky-country","provider":"Boa Editions","version":"1.0","type":"link"}