Marilyn Chin has been widely recognized as a consummate poet of the hybrid experience, blending East and West and the personal and political. Praised for its streetwise lyricism, this groundbreaking volume captures a young immigrant woman’s perspective as she encounters the nexus of tradition and commercialism in modern, diverse, and urban California. With this new edition, a modern classic is reintroduced to a new generation of readers.
Chin writes with a toughened lyricism that persuades us of the poet’s firm life knowledge: she never imputes to experience (or poetry) a false or wishful glamour. – Publishers Weekly
The strongest poems in Chin’s second collection present an immigrant’s view, combining old stories and sensibilities with an American idiom. – Library Journal
