Migrant Psalms: Poems (Drinking Gourd Chapbook Poetry Prize) by Darrel Alejandro Holnes


Migrant Psalms: Poems (Drinking Gourd Chapbook Poetry Prize)
Title : Migrant Psalms: Poems (Drinking Gourd Chapbook Poetry Prize)
Author :
Rating :
ISBN : 0810143585
ISBN-10 : 9780810143586
Language : English
Format Type : Paperback
Number of Pages : 48
Publication : Published April 15, 2021

Migrant Psalms prays for a way to make sense of immigration to the United States—now that we realize the American Dream was always an impossible one. Both reverent and daring, this verse interrogates religion, race, class, family, and sexuality. Written as a call to action, the collection pulls together prayer, popular culture, and technology to tell a twenty‑first-century migrant story.
 

Migrant Psalms: Poems (Drinking Gourd Chapbook Poetry Prize) Reviews

  • Bethany

    The American Dream
    is not a fantasy. It’s as real as The resurrection
    of turkey on Thanksgiving and the healing properties
    of Apple pie.

    It’s good to have language that questions convention and assigned labels like swarm for people.

  • Allison

    I really appreciated "Amending Wall"--there's so much to think about and discuss with that poem. It's quite powerful in both language and concept. I hope high school teachers pair it with Robert Frost's "Mending Wall," as intended.

    The rest of the poems in this collection rely heavily on pop culture and biblical references to color the queer migrant experience (Brittney Spears, Lazarus, etc.) You might find them compelling. I didn't. They do work, but they also feel overdone. It feels like the poems are trying to be "cool"; they say, "look at all that I am--I am Brittney and Lazarus; I am the sinner and the saint, I am American and not; I am gay and not; I am neither here nor there."

    I've simply read too much that's similar, so I felt underwhelmed by these poems. Granted, this just means that these poems aren't for me. It doesn't mean that they couldn't be interesting to you. Maybe give them a try, especially if you relish in early 2000s references intermixed with the liminal migrant experience.