In Jon Pineda s debut collection "Birthmark, " loss takes the shape of a scar, memory the shape of a childhood, and identity the shape of a birthmark on a lover s thigh. Like water taking the form of its container, Pineda s poems swell to fill the lines of his experiences. Against the backdrop of Tidewater, Virginia s crabs and cicadas, Pineda invokes his "mestizo"the Tagalog word for being half Filipinochildhood, weaving laments for a tenuous paternal relationship and the loss of a sibling. Channeling these fragmented memories into a new discovery of self, "Birthmark "reclaims an identity,...
In Jon Pineda s debut collection "Birthmark, " loss takes the shape of a scar, memory the shape of a childhood, and identity the shape of a birthmark ...
The third collection by the prize-winning Asian American poet Jon Pineda, Little Anodynes is a sequence of lyrical, personal narratives that continue Pineda's exploration of his biracial identity, the haunting loss of his sister, and the joys--and fears--of fatherhood. With its title inspired by Emily Dickinson, Little Anodynes offers its poems as "respites," as breaks in the reader's life that serve as opportunities for discovery and healing. Pineda deftly uses shortened lines and natural pauses to create momentum, which allows the poems to play out in a manner evocative of fine cinema, as...
The third collection by the prize-winning Asian American poet Jon Pineda, Little Anodynes is a sequence of lyrical, personal narratives that continue ...
