One of the benefits of literature is that it allows the reader to empathize with the protagonists or—in the case of poets—with the themes and issues that concern them. In this period when the country is seeing a rise in hate crimes against Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders, it is useful to see the people of their diaspora, not as other, but as living with the same challenges and joys as any other American. To that end, I am happy to suggest the following (necessarily limited, admittedly some of my favorites) poetry collections as a starting point toward a deeper understanding of our shared humanity.
- Rick Barot, The Galleons
- Quan Barry, Loose Strife
- Chen Chen, When I Grow Up I Want to Be a List of Further Possibilities
- Marilyn Chin, A Portrait of the Self As Nation
- Don Mee Choi, DMZ Colony
- Franny Choi, Soft Science
- Jennifer Kwon Dobbs, Interrogation Room
- Eugene Gloria, Sightseer in This Killing City
- Lee Herrick, Scar and Flower
- Karen An-hwei Lee, The Maze of Transparencies
- Li-Young Lee, The Undressing
- Mari L’Esperance, The Darkened Temple
- Aimee Nezhukumatathil, World of Wonders: In Praise of Fireflies, Whale Sharks, and Other Astonishments
- Diana Khoi Nguyen, Ghost Of
- Hieu Minh Nguyen, Not Here
- Paisley Rekdal, Nightingale
- Barbara Jane Reyes, Letters to a Young Brown Girl
- Patrick Rosal, The Last Thing: New & Selected Poems
- Sam Roxas-Chua, Saying Your Name Three Times Underwater
- Adrienne Su, Peach State
- Angela Narcisco Torres, What Happens is Neither
- Mai Der Vang, Afterland
- John Yau, Further Adventures in Monochrome
- Monica Youn, Blackacre
- Maw Shein Win, Storage Unit for the Spirit House
- Jenny Xie, Eye Level
- Tanya Ko Hong, The War Still Within
Lynne Thompson is the Los Angeles Poet Laureate.
