The Diaspora Sonnets

In 1972, after Ferdinand Marcos declared martial law, Oliver de la Paz's father, in a last fit of desperation to leave the Philippines, threw his papers at an immigration clerk, hoping to get them stamped. He was prepared to leave, having already quit his job and having exchanged pesos for dollars; but he couldn't anticipate the challenges of the migratory lifestyle he and his family would soon adopt in America. Their search for a sense of "home" and boundless feelings of deracination are evocatively explored by award-winning poet de la Paz in this formally inventive collection of sonnets.

Broken into three parts-"The Implacable West", "Landscape with Work, Rest, and Silence" and "Dwelling Music"-The Diaspora Sonnets eloquently invokes the perseverance and bold possibilities of de la Paz's displaced family as they strove for stability and belonging. In order to establish her medical practice, de la Paz's mother had to relocate often for residencies. As they moved from state to state his father worked to support the family. Sonnets thus flit from coast to coast, across prairies and deserts, along the way musing on shadowy dreams of a faraway country.

Written with the deft touch of a virtuoso and the compassion of a loving son, The Diaspora Sonnets powerfully captures the peculiar pangs of a diaspora "that has left and is forever leaving."

About the author

Oliver de la Paz is the author and editor of seven poetry collections, including The Boy in the Labyrinth, a finalist for the Massachusetts Book Award. He teaches at the College of the Holy Cross and is the Poet Laureate of Worcester.

Product details

• Authors: Oliver De La Paz
• Publisher: W. W. Norton & Company
• Languages: English
• Product format: Paperback / Softback
• Released: 24.09.2024
• EAN: 9781324095170
• ISBN: 978-1-324-09517-0
• Dimensions: 140 mm x 211 mm x 10 mm
• Weight: 111 g
• Subjects: Fiction > Poetry, drama; POETRY / Subjects & Themes / Places, POETRY / Subjects & Themes / Family, Poetry by individual poets, Modern and contemporary poetry (c 1900 onwards), Relating to Asian American people, POETRY / American / Asian American & Pacific Islander, BIOGRAPHY & AUTOBIOGRAPHY / Asian & Asian American, Modern and contemporary poetry / poems