In this Book
- Year of the Snake
- Book
- 2004
- Published by: Southern Illinois University Press
- Series: Crab Orchard Series in Poetry
In her second collection of poems, Lee Ann Roripaugh probes themes of mixed-race female identities, evoking the molting processes of snakes and insects who shed their skins and shells as an ongoing metaphor for transformation of self. Intertwining contemporary renditions of traditional Japanese myths and fairy tales with poems that explore the landscape of childhood and early adolescence, she blurs the boundaries between myth and memory, between real and imagined selves. This collection explores cultural, psychological, and physical liminalities and exposes the diasporic arc cast by first-generation Asian American mothers and their second-generation daughters, revealing a desire for metamorphosis of self through time, geography, culture, and myth.
Table of Contents
- Title Page
- p. 4
- Acknowledgments
- pp. vii-viii
- Snake Song
- pp. 1-2
- Love Potion
- pp. 5-8
- Loneliness
- pp. 9-10
- Dream Carp
- pp. 13-15
- Transience
- pp. 16-17
- Happy Hour
- pp. 18-20
- Snake Bridegroom
- pp. 21-24
- Octopus in the Freezer
- pp. 25-27
- Antelope Jerky
- pp. 28-31
- Transplanting
- pp. 32-37
- Nanking Cherry Jam
- pp. 38-40
- Girl with a Bowl on Her Head
- pp. 44-46
- Tongue-Cut Sparrow
- pp. 50-52
- Snake Wife
- pp. 55-58
- Albino Squirrel
- pp. 59-60
- Toothpick Warriors
- pp. 61-62
- White Butterfly
- pp. 65-67
- Back Cover
- p. 80
Additional Information
Copyright
2004