Hungry for home and belonging, these poems re-imagine real and ideal experiences of immigration and displacement through Asian American perspectives.

Christine Kitano's first collection of poetry, Birds of Paradise, was published in 2011 by Lynx House Press. She received her BA from the University of California, her MFA from Syracuse University, and her PhD in English and Creative Writing from Texas Tech University. She was born and raised in Los Angeles, CA and currently lives in Ithaca, NY where she is an assistant professor at Ithaca College.

Table of Contents

A Leaving ... 1

I
Sky Country ... 3

II
Gaman ... 11
February, 1943 ... 12
Equinox ... 13
I Will Explain Hope ... 14
Fireflies ... 15
About the Trees ... 16

III
Leaving California ... 19
Before the Divorce, a Dry Thunderstorm ... 20
Ancestors ... 21
Lucky Come Hawai'i ... 22
Summer: Insomniac Stages Her Love ... 23
Monologue of the Dental Assistant ... 24
Insomniac in Winter ... 26
Monologue of the Fat Girl ... 27
Insomniac in Spring ... 29
Choose Your Own Adventure: Go South ... 30
Insomniac in Fall ... 31
Worship ... 32
Insomniac Starts an Exercise Routine ... 33

IV
Years Later, Washing Dishes, A Vision ... 35
The Night Before Your 28th Birthday ... 36
Roofing ... 37
Bring in the Flowers Before the Santa Anas ... 38
Autobiography of the Poet at Sixteen ... 39
A Story With No Moral ... 41
Friday Night Affair ... 46

V
1942: In Response to Executive Order 9066 ... 48
Grandmother Tells Me a Story: Passing the Lake, Korea, 1952 ... 49
Chicken Soup ... 50
Persimmons ... 52
Earthquake Drills ... 53
For the Korean Grandmother on Sunset Boulevard ... 54