Coral Road

Poems

Nonfiction, Social & Cultural Studies, Social Science, Cultural Studies, Ethnic Studies, Fiction & Literature, Poetry, American, History, Military, World War II
Cover of the book Coral Road by Garrett Hongo, Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group
View on Amazon View on AbeBooks View on Kobo View on B.Depository View on eBay View on Walmart
Author: Garrett Hongo ISBN: 9780307701565
Publisher: Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group Publication: September 27, 2011
Imprint: Knopf Language: English
Author: Garrett Hongo
ISBN: 9780307701565
Publisher: Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group
Publication: September 27, 2011
Imprint: Knopf
Language: English

Garrett Hongo’s long-awaited third collection of poems is a beautiful, elegiac gathering of his Japanese-American ancestors in their Hawaiian landscape and a testament to the power of poetry, as it brings their marginalized yet heroic narratives into the realm of art.

In Coral Road Hongo explores the history of the impermanent homeland his ancestors found on the island of O‘ahu after their immigration from southern Japan, and meditates on the dramatic tales of the islands. In sumptuous narrative poems he takes up strands of family stories and what he calls “a long legacy of silence” about their experience as contract laborers along the North Shore of the island. In the opening sequence, he brings to life the story of his great-grandparents fleeing from one plantation to another, finding their way by moonlight along coral roads and railroad tracks. As his grandmother, a girl of ten with an infant on her back, traverses “twelve-score stands of cane / chittering like small birds, nocturnal harpies in the feral constancies of wind,” Hongo asks, “Where is the Virgil who might lead me through the shallow underworld of this history?” In fact, it is Hongo who guides himself—and us—as, in these devoted acts of recollection, he seeks to dispel the dislocation at the center of his legacy.

The love of art—making beauty in however provisional a culture—has clearly been a guiding principle in Hongo’s poetry. In this content-rich verse, Hongo hearkens to and delivers “the luminous and the anecdotal,” bringing forth a complete aesthetic experience from the shards that make up a life.

View on Amazon View on AbeBooks View on Kobo View on B.Depository View on eBay View on Walmart

Garrett Hongo’s long-awaited third collection of poems is a beautiful, elegiac gathering of his Japanese-American ancestors in their Hawaiian landscape and a testament to the power of poetry, as it brings their marginalized yet heroic narratives into the realm of art.

In Coral Road Hongo explores the history of the impermanent homeland his ancestors found on the island of O‘ahu after their immigration from southern Japan, and meditates on the dramatic tales of the islands. In sumptuous narrative poems he takes up strands of family stories and what he calls “a long legacy of silence” about their experience as contract laborers along the North Shore of the island. In the opening sequence, he brings to life the story of his great-grandparents fleeing from one plantation to another, finding their way by moonlight along coral roads and railroad tracks. As his grandmother, a girl of ten with an infant on her back, traverses “twelve-score stands of cane / chittering like small birds, nocturnal harpies in the feral constancies of wind,” Hongo asks, “Where is the Virgil who might lead me through the shallow underworld of this history?” In fact, it is Hongo who guides himself—and us—as, in these devoted acts of recollection, he seeks to dispel the dislocation at the center of his legacy.

The love of art—making beauty in however provisional a culture—has clearly been a guiding principle in Hongo’s poetry. In this content-rich verse, Hongo hearkens to and delivers “the luminous and the anecdotal,” bringing forth a complete aesthetic experience from the shards that make up a life.

More books from Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group

Cover of the book My Name Is Red by Garrett Hongo
Cover of the book A Sky So Close by Garrett Hongo
Cover of the book The Whiteness of Bones by Garrett Hongo
Cover of the book The Book of Ephraim by Garrett Hongo
Cover of the book The Trial by Garrett Hongo
Cover of the book Incognito by Garrett Hongo
Cover of the book Reason by Garrett Hongo
Cover of the book We Could Be Beautiful by Garrett Hongo
Cover of the book The Archaeology of New York State by Garrett Hongo
Cover of the book The Dictator's Learning Curve by Garrett Hongo
Cover of the book Searching for Schindler by Garrett Hongo
Cover of the book The High Window by Garrett Hongo
Cover of the book Bambi vs. Godzilla by Garrett Hongo
Cover of the book Old Newgate Road by Garrett Hongo
Cover of the book Conquering Fear by Garrett Hongo
We use our own "cookies" and third party cookies to improve services and to see statistical information. By using this website, you agree to our Privacy Policy