Bear, Diamonds and Crane - Softcover

Kageyama-Ramakrishnan, Claire

3.89

18 ratings by Goodreads

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1935536133 ISBN 13: 9781935536130

Publisher: Four Way Books, 2011

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Bear, Diamonds and Crane depicts the sansei, the grandchildren of Japanese immigrants to America in villanelles, haiku, and lyric poems collaged from family letters. Kageyama-Ramakrishnan recounts her relatives' internment in Manzanar, the California concentration camp where Japanese Americans were imprisoned during World War II. Honoring Sadako Sasaki, who, "after Hiroshima and Nagasaki, / [...] folded / a thousand cranes/ for world peace," Bear, Diamonds and Crane looks to the yonsei (fourth generation) to transform "the wound" that "resists erasure and cultural amnesia": "For you, I will keep the ripe weight,/ [...]/ The limes and climbing wisteria vines."

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Review:

Library Journal"

The author explores family, love, and loss, particularly among several generations of Japanese Americans, in beautifully distilled little gems that explore the very limits of poetry and of life: Maybe you ll agree that when you filter, / you translate. You filter and you lose. Library Journal"

"The author explores family, love, and loss, particularly among several generations of Japanese Americans, in beautifully distilled little gems that explore the very limits of poetry--and of life: "Maybe you'll agree that when you filter, / you translate. You filter and you lose.""-- "Library Journal" (11/15/2011 12:00:00 AM)

About the Author:

CLAIRE KAGEYAMA-RAMAKRISHNAN, author of Shadow Mountain, lives and teaches in Houston, Texas.

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