{"product_id":"two-brown-dots-1","title":"Two Brown Dots","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eSelected by Aimee Nezhukumatathil as the winner of the A. Poulin, Jr. Poetry Prize, Danni Quintos carves a space for brown girls and weird girls in her debut collection of poems.\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003ci\u003e\u003cspan\u003eTwo Brown Dots \u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cspan\u003eexplores what it means to be a racially ambiguous, multiethnic, Asian American woman growing up in Kentucky. In stark, honest poems, Quintos recounts the messiness and confusion of being a typical ‘90s kid—watching \u003c\/span\u003e\u003ci\u003e\u003cspan\u003eDirty Dancing\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cspan\u003e at sleepovers, borrowing eye shadow out of a friend’s caboodle, crushing on a boy wearing khaki shorts to Sunday mass—while navigating the microaggressions of the neighbor kids, the awkwardness of puberty, and the casual cruelties of fellow teenagers. The mixed-race daughter of a dark skinned Filipino immigrant, Quintos retells family stories and Philippine folklore to try and make sense of an identity with roots on opposite sides of the globe.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eWith clear-eyed candor and a wry sense of humor, Quintos teases the line between tokenism and representation, between assimilation and belonging, offering a potent antidote to the assumption that “American” means “white.” Encompassing a whole journey from girlhood to motherhood,\u003cspan\u003e \u003c\/span\u003e\u003ci\u003eTwo Brown Dots\u003c\/i\u003e subverts stereotypes to reclaim agency and pride in the realness and rawness and\u003cspan\u003e \u003c\/span\u003e\u003ci\u003eunpretty\u003c\/i\u003eness of a brown girl’s body, boldly declaring: We exist, we belong, we are from here, and we will continue to be.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e \u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ch3\u003ePraise for \u003cem\u003eTwo Brown Dots\u003c\/em\u003e\n\u003c\/h3\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“With remarkable humor and candor, Danni Quintos blazes across these pages in a most magical debut. You’ll be utterly charmed and entranced by her poems, which ignite questions of desire and justice rarely offered– unless one amalgamates folklore and childhood in such a brilliantly expansive, moving way. This is it. This is the one you were waiting for.” \u003cb\u003e—Aimee Nezhukumatathil, author of\u003cspan\u003e \u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003eWorld of Wonders: In Praise of Fireflies, Whale Sharks \u0026amp; Other Astonishments\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan\u003e“Who but the Filipina girl, the keen discerning granddaughter of lola, \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan\u003ewith the unquiet mind, could turn the hurt and brutality, the \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan\u003einvisibility of coming of age in late 20th century America, into an \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan\u003eiridescent book of modern day brown girl psalms.” \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cb\u003e—Nikky Finney\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e\u003cb\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan\u003e“Danni Quintos’s book \u003c\/span\u003e\u003ci\u003e\u003cspan\u003eTwo Brown Dots\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cspan\u003e, in addition to thinking hard about motherhood, the body, ancestry, and more, is one of the most beautiful and tender and honest depictions of the youthful negotiations of racism I’ve ever read: the lostness, the entanglements, the confusions, the hurts, the loves.  How many times I gasped or dropped my head into my hands or shook my head in recognition at how clearly, how precisely, she depicted what I have felt but never quite had the words or courage to say.  It is a wonder how poems can care for us like that. It is a mercy.” \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cb\u003e—Ross Gay, author of \u003c\/b\u003e\u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003eBe Holding\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e \u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ch4\u003eQuintos\u003c\/h4\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThere’s no pride in our name\u003cbr\u003ebecause the man who left\u003cbr\u003eit for us, sprinkling it on children\u003cbr\u003e\u0026amp; women he abandoned, is not a man.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cbr\u003eHe is a black \u0026amp; white photo\u003cbr\u003e\u0026amp; looks like a version of my dad\u003cbr\u003eif he cut \u0026amp; slicked his hair: same brows,\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cbr\u003esame bony hands. He is standing\u003cbr\u003eby a woman who sued him for polygamy,\u003cbr\u003ethe one he married while my lola\u003cbr\u003ewas pregnant with my dad, round\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cbr\u003eas a globe, fuming. I only wish\u003cbr\u003eI could strip him of his Quintos,\u003cbr\u003emake it belong only to the people\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cbr\u003ewho love me to the marrow of my bones,\u003cbr\u003ethe ones who know my left-handed\u003cbr\u003ehandwriting, who show up\u003cbr\u003ein its slanted poems.\u003cstrong\u003e\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"BOA Editions, Ltd.","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":41083016216747,"sku":"9781950774517","price":17.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0982\/0178\/products\/TwoBrownDotsFinal_7f458b6c-a708-4a6e-a144-ecc58277580e.jpg?v=1634665097","url":"https:\/\/shop.boaeditions.org\/products\/two-brown-dots-1","provider":"Boa Editions","version":"1.0","type":"link"}