Thousand Star Hotel

by Bao Phi

Thousand Star Hotel confronts the silence around racism, police brutality, and the invisibility of the Asian American urban poor.

From “with thanks to Sahra Nguyen for the refugee style slogan”:

They give the kids candy to bet.

My daughter loses the first four rounds,
she’s a quiet wire as they take her candy away, piece by piece.
When she finally wins, I ask if she wants to play again.
No! she shouts, grabbing her candy, I want to go home!
True refugee style:
take everything you got and run with it.

Genres: Poetry, Fiction, Asian American, Race, Asian Literature, Contemporary, Social Issues

112 pages, Paperback

First published July 4, 2017

About the author

Bao Phi is a Vietnamese-American spoken word artist,[1][2] writer and community activist living in Minnesota. Bao Phi's collection of poems, Sông I Sing, was published in 2011[3] and, Thousand Star Hotel, was published in 2017[4] by Coffee House Press. He has written three children’s books published by Capstone Press. First book, A Different Pond received multiple awards, including the Caldecott Award,[5] Charlotte Zolotow Award,[6] the Asian/Pacific American Awards for Literature for best picture book, the Minnesota Book Award for picture books.[7]

Reviews

[Lauren · Rating 5 out of 5]

The lines are long and my mom insists
that the final amount is wrong.
The cashier looks at the receipt and insists that it's right.
My mom purses her lips, looks worried,
says, it's not right.
The line of white people behind us groans.
My mom won't look back at them.
We both know what they're thinking
Small woman with no knowledge of the way
things are in America.
Though year after year
she makes flowers bloom in the hood,
petals in the face of this land
that doesn't want her here.
Finally a manager comes, checks, and tells the cashier
she rang up twenty-two plants instead of just twom,
overcharging us by forty dollars.
My mother holds my hand
leads me away
without looking back
at the line of white people
who overhear
and gasp,
their sympathy won.
If only I was old enough
to tell them to keep it;
it's not my mom's English
that is broken.

--Frank's Nursery and Crafts

Loved the prose poetry in many of these poems, and the storytelling quality. Bao Phi themes many of the works around Asian American poverty and experiences both in childhood and adulthood. It was a masterful collection, and one I will likely go back to read over. A late read in the year, but definitely adding it to one of my 2017 favorites.

[Naori · Rating 4 out of 5]

“The opposite of history is erasure...
...Asian Americans are the opposite of history,
...erasure is the opposite of survival...”

“I want to say, ‘I am made of war and that means so are you.’ I want to say, ‘I was born inside a halo of gunpowder. No - a silhouette of a circle left by an exploding bomb. No - a snake eating itself...’”

“Will anyone ever ask if the shadows in the corners
have ever been lit to wing...
...can she crack a window and breathe the world
breathing her back -“

[Ryan Mishap · Rating 5 out of 5]

"That a raindrop can weep inside of itself so hard it drowns and, looking at it, you would never know."

Not a lot of poetry books make their way into my reading list, fewer still are the ones I read all the way through, and even less are so outstanding they move me to tears. This is one of those.

Damn. So good.

"To say the past is past is bloodless privilege."

[jeremy · Rating 4 out of 5]

and i wonder
if i ever will find a language
to speak of the things
that haunt me most.

the second collection (following the remarkable sông i sing ) from minnesota-based, viet nam-born poet bao phi, thousand star hotel matches its predecessor in form, theme, resonance, and poignancy. in his new work, phi, award-winning slam poet, battles with racism, identity, fatherhood, the immigrant experience, violence, worth, war, poverty, and trauma. as arresting as his first collection, thousand star hotel houses a million shimmering slivers of self; a striking, stirring examination of our current milieu filtered through pain, promise, and profundity.

No Question

—To the white girl who saw a bunch of us little Southeast Asian kids watching her brother play a video game in the Asian grocery and said, "These gooks are surrounding us."

Did we douse you in chemicals
that twisted your future generations
to flesh pretzels,
strip-mine your resources,
then fusion-fuck your family dinner

Did we light garlands of fire onto your sacred mountains,
push your people to tiny fingers of dry land,
explore what was already found,
then name your beautiful landmarks
after ourselves

Did we push your people into jobs
where toxic fumes turned your lungs into scorched wings,
your nails breaking on our skin
to paint ours pretty

Did we spin your history to smoke,
hook you on snorting the ashes

Did we convince the entire world your men
have cocks as small as minnows
scar barbed-wire borders using plastic surgery
break your legs to
make you
taller

Did we gentrify your love life

Did we convince your people
that we taught them the word love
and what it means to be free

Did we redefine torture
for our own benefit

Did we measure ourselves in fathoms
then force you to swim in us
until you drowned?

These gooks are surrounding us.
If only
that were true.

(4.5 stars)

[Maggie Gordon · Rating 3 out of 5]

Powerful, though I think best delivered orally. While some poems are utterly cutting, others feel like they could use a bit more editing from a written perspective. Content-wise, this covers a very underrepresented voice in poetry: immigrant working class Vietnamese. Important and enjoyable read.

[Victoria Johnson · Rating 2 out of 5]

A collection of poems written by a Vietnamese immigrant living in Minneapolis. I always like reading books by local authors so this was a treat and the subject matter of most of the poems deserves to be read.

I'm not surprised that Phi is a slam poet, because a lot of the poems were snappy with forceful language and I didn't think they always worked as words on a page. Most of the longer form poems worked better for me and a few were genuinely moving. I'll be looking up Phi tonight on YouTube to find some of his slam poetry read aloud!

[Kelly · Rating 5 out of 5]

Bao Phi has such a way with words, and creates poetry that pulls you into the moment. This book is eye-opening and thought provoking. It’s full of angst, beauty, regret and hope and it passes the same emotions on to the reader.

[Balbina · Rating 4 out of 5]

Review to come!

[Queer · Rating 5 out of 5]

Survive long enough / and eventually/ everything becomes /a revolution

[Virginia · Rating 5 out of 5]

A moving and poignant collection of poems about the immigrant refugee experience in the U.S. I willbecoming back to read this collection again and again.

[Julie · Rating 5 out of 5]

For all the talk about not being able to find the right words in key moments in his life, Bao Phi sure has a knack for writing them down later on. Although I am a byproduct of a different culture, a different war, a different state, and another gender, so much of Phi's experience and worldview resonates with my own; so much so that I had to put the book down multiple times to process his and my emotions, usually through tears. Phi's intense love, resigned wisdom, empathy, and sense of awe will leave you thirsty for more.

[Celine · Rating 5 out of 5]

It's imperative to understand that the Asian American immigrant experience is not a uniform one. Bao Phi's poems directly combat the harmful "model minority" narrative that reinforce stereotypes of Asian Americans as a monolith and perpetuate misnomers that all Asian Americans share the same successes and barriers. His poems speak about discrimination, police brutality, and tokenism. They also speak to the importance of BLM, combating Muslim hatred, and the importance of solidarity across movements. Bao Phi has created an incredibly important collection of poems that grapple with what it means to be an Asian American in this country today.

[Dan Wilkinson · Rating 5 out of 5]

Stop what you’re doing and buy this book. Now.

[elise amaryllis · Rating 5 out of 5]

5/5
so many beautiful poems in here. they all dealt with race & refugee identity but at the same time every poem maintained its own identity.

My favorite unquoted poems were "To Combust," "Night of the Living," "Mouse," & "Thousand Star Hotel."

"I want to want to wake up in the morning.
Instead I bookmark an ad for an alarm clock
with an arm attached to it—
slaps you in the face to wake you."
—Want to Want

"There will be more than enough years
to punish yourself for imperfection."
—Full Contact

"In grade school there was a sweet, quiet girl who loved Prince. She cried
every time she heard 'Purple Rain,' and she would listen to it a lot.
Maybe you can't trust the memory of a poet who can't remember if it was
fourth or fifth or sixth grade, but I recall that we asked her once why and
she couldn't explain. If I had known then what I know now, I would have
offered that a guitar solo can be made of guts and can gut you, all at once.
That unlike our throats, when our hearts howl they never grow hoarse.
That a raindrop can weep inside of itself so hard it drowns, and, looking at
it, you would never know."
—Theresa, I think

"It's so simple it hurts—
in the dream she wants you.
Gets on a plane, plays Jenga with her schedule,
say yes—
you are worth this good work.
Of course you are grateful; her smile is accurate
to the crease,
even in the haze of your REM.
She looks at you the whole time,
her hand in yours
and she sees everything.

Epilouge.
Dissapear into a history
you break your own heart to write."
—XII

"I do not know in what direction love pulls me.
But I do know the feeling of the muscle in your chest flailing
for fear of drowning."
—Therapist 4

"My given name, Thiên-bao,
translates to
treasure from heaven.
An immediate reason for my being
indecipherable
the moment it stung
unfamiliar tongue
so soon after "hello."
I would finally like to thank my parents
for what I once thought of
as an unpronounceable curse
that I'd have loved to bleach—
because everyone who has ever addressed me
from bullies to crushes to haters
has had no choice
but to call me
valuable."
—Ego-Tripping as Self-Defense Mechanism for Refugee Kids Who Got Their Names Clowned On

"One day I'll say I want to give you everything because I come from not so much and no matter how far away I get I feel too close to nothing every dau.

Maybe the important thing is that you made me realixe I just want a better world for you to be a small part of.

The moment you were born you were better than me.

Every moment after that is to be determined."
—Untitled/Fathers

[Devin Redmond · Rating 4 out of 5]

My school has an International Night, and it’s pretty amazing. 19 countries were represented this year, and we learned about food, games, songs, and attire. A mom at one of the booths gave me two books to borrow. One was this one, Thousand Star Hotel by Bao Phi, and the other was The Tale of Kiều by Nguyễn Du. I admitted, after glancing through The Tale of Kiều that I wasn’t sure I’d read it. She said, “Just flip through it. It’s the book Vietnamese kids study in high school.”

Thousand Star Hotel is a book of poetry and not my genre of choice by any means, but I try to lead by example and read hard-for-me books.

Bao Phi was born in Saigon and raised in the Phillips neighborhood of South Minneapolis. He still lives in the Minneapolis area; he is the director of The Loft Literary Center. He is a community activist. He has won many poetry slams, which, to me, means his poems can have more power when they are read aloud by the author. Many of Bao Phi’s poems are about growing up in the Phillips neighborhood. The saddest ones are about his father. My favorites, though still sad as he wants to shield her from the racism he experienced, are the poems Phi writes about raising his daughter. But my most favorite was the poem “Thousand Star Hotel.”

To say the past is past is bloodless privilege.
**
We look into our children’s faces and see the end of all we know.
All our lives we have been made to feel small and now at last
this is a good thing.

One day I’ll say I want to give you everything because I come from not so
much
and no matter how far away I get I feel too close to nothing every day.

Maybe the important thing is that you made me realize I just want a
better world for you to be a small part of.

The moment you were born you were better than me.

Every moment after that is to be determined.

[Will · Rating 4 out of 5]

Bao Phi's collection is a sweeping series of poems about Phi's experience as a low-income child of Vietnamese immigrants in 1970s Minneapolis. His poems deal with fatherhood, mental health, and feelings of not belonging. Phi's poems are often brutally honest, holding no bars when it comes to his internal monologue from dealing with romantic rejection to raising his daughter. Phi also writes about being a nerd of color and finding solace in books growing up. I think my favorite poem is "Eg0-Tripping as a Self-Defense Mechanism For Refugee Kids who Get Their Names Clowned On." A concise and moving poem about Phi's name. Standing alone, it is a brilliant poem. Within the collection, it retains its brilliance and also marks a shift in Phi's relationship to himself and his heritage--finding pride even amongst pain and beginning the third and final section. Phi's poems cover a variety of forms and are never dull. I also loved how his poems told of a Minneapolis in the 80s that isn't often thought about, he writes about the American Indian Movement's patrols in his neighborhood and the changing culture of Minneapolis' South Side. So proud that claim him as one of this city's brightest!

[fivestarbookreview]

Thousand Star Hotel, the latest poetry collection by Bao Phi explores his Vietnamese heritage and his experience of racism in America. Phi’s poems grapple with the complicated legacy of the Vietnam War as it has impacted generations of Vietnamese Americans. I appreciate Phi’s use of contemporary references (hello Star Wars) but some of his poems devolve into tired clichés and unnuanced anger. Rather than sink his efforts into making us see racism with new eyes, Phi often re-presents the ugly bits we’ve become all too familiar with. I much prefer his descriptions of his daughter, of his fear of fatherhood, and his trepidation about the fate of future generations; it’s Phi at his most vulnerable, most naked. In his final poem “Refugerequiem” he encapsulates the horror of the Vietnam War in an image of his daughter chasing him around the dining room table; her eyes “seeing everything behind me.”

[tt · Rating 5 out of 5]

I thought the transitions among the pieces in this collection flowed really well. There are some poems that are especially cutting and there are some ending lines that aimed straight to your heart. Though, I thought some of the pieces were weak in terms of formatting and structure. I really appreciate how Bao Phi wrote in the voice of the Vietnamese immigrant working class, and how that permeates in the remnants of the War and especially from the perspective of a parent who deviates between that particular past and the present/future with his daughter.

From what I remember, Sông I Sing was especially cutting and contained a lot of (understandable) anger and retaliation. Thousand Star Hotel also had that, but it was combined with tenderness and intimacy that wasn't present in the former. With that, I think there is an additional wisdom that shines in this particular collection.

Actual Rating: 4.5 stars

[Penguin · Rating 4 out of 5]

My own distaste for poetry is mostly due to my own impression of the medium being entirely formed via Atticus poems, and as such I’ve never really “got” what was so great about it. This, however, is getting me to actually understand the potential of it (wow, who knew poetry about an actual meaningful subject would be worth reading?). Phi has crafted some gorgeous works about his own experience growing up as a poor Asian-American, and how that upbringing has affected his own insecurities and fears regarding bringing up his own child. He has a lot to say about the very understandable concerns he has about how to even raise his own daughter and teach her how to survive. While I still don’t really understand poetry (and am sure that 90% of the intended meaning from Phi is still going over my head), I’m eager to check out more of his work.

[Katie · Rating 5 out of 5]

I learned about this poet after reading one of Bao Phi’s poems in a different poetry book, Ink Knows No Borders Poems of the Immigrant and Refugee Experience. As I was reading this book l was so grateful to have found it. The poems are powerful and I enjoy feeling connected to the stories of others because reading helps me maintain my humanity and helps me feel whole. Certain poems spoke to me and others I reread a couple times and wondered if I really understood the message, though that’s not a bad thing in my experience. I’m going to continue reading poetry and work on embracing the journey. I recommend this book to those who like poetry and those who care about improving themselves through reflection and understanding.

[Paul · Rating 3 out of 5]

It's likely that I'll appreciate Bao Phi's earlier poetry collection "Song I Sing" more, but this has some really strong pieces interspersed throughout. The first and third sections contain a bit more consistently excellent poems than the second section, which draws on more of the speaker's relationship with his family. That said, Bao Phi's artistry is that he doesn't give in to easier thematic issues, and his work reshuffles old ideas and diagnoses easy political approaches, so he swings with the reader. Always enjoyable, such as "Kids" and "The Measure," and the final section has some stupendous imagery, especially "Refugerequiem".

[jess · Rating 5 out of 5]

!!!

p. 93: Mouse, when you creep out from under the place I must assume you've always known, what do you see? Someone who is doing his best, and if you are patient, you get what he gets? Or someone who inhabits a space you'd rather have all to yourself? I am trying to see things your way. There are all these little spaces that make us into who we are, and sometimes I can't breathe when I feel stuck. I think of stars and ocean waves, mouse: these things that are bigger than me, and can't be bothered to care.

[Lili Kim · Rating 3 out of 5]

Good lines, though I liked "Song I Sing" a lot more.

“And I wonder / if I ever will find a language / to speak of the things / that haunt me the most.”

“I’ve realized that I yell the same things to my daughter / in the same way that my dad would yell at me / except I do it in English / which some may consider the official language / of bad Asians.”

“I am sick of Hollywood co-opting my story. It makes me want to vomit radioactive apocalypse and commit zombie homicide, except in my version there’s more than one Asian who survives.”

[Kay · Rating 5 out of 5]

An inside look at the life of Vietnamese refugees now in the US, those who got out at the end of the war. It is hard to read, but I want to see, to know, and while I wonder what to do, at least I can feel and try to understand what life is like for all those trying to make a new life and get "beat up on" constantly. There is a lyrical feel for family and friends in the midst of the hard times. I'm glad I found this book!

[Paul Lai · Rating 5 out of 5]

Bao Phi's poems are frank and tight, but also leisurely in splendid places and bracing in introspection. I'm eager to give copies to my friends who are also Asian American men, raising kids, pondering our parents, remembering the overt and micro assaults of past and present. There's some experimentation but it's all within reach, packs a punch, doesn't try to dazzle you but stays full of surprises. Great poetry for non-poets and poets too.

[Thienan Nguyen · Rating 4 out of 5]

A poetry collection where each individual poem touches upon something - an experience, an idea, an emotion - that is very relatable despite it being so clearly inspired by Phi's personal feelings and experiences. The collection works really well as a whole in giving a voice to many invisible aspects of the Vietnamese American experience.

Full review here

[Tom · Rating 4 out of 5]

I probably read this too fast and missed out on a lot of stuff that would have made it even more remarkable. But what I found was poetry like: "I wish you justice, so thick / it covers this land all around us." And "The biggest fist you can have is the one banging against the inside of your rib cage." Stunning.

[Leena Nanda · Rating 5 out of 5]

This beautiful book of poems deserved to be nominated for the National Book Award. Poet Bao Phi's words draws you into the world of the Vietnamese refugee in America and sheds light on the struggles faced when your adopted homeland is so hostile to your existence. So heartbreaking in so many different ways.

[Alyson · Rating 3 out of 5]

I rarely read poetry, but I enjoyed one or two of Bao Phi's picture books and so checked this one out of my library. It's unfair to rate someone's refugee experience; on the other hand, these poems were created to be shared. So...
Pros:
Piercing
Thought-provoking
Had me googling and learning about people I hadn't heard of

Cons:
Language
Mostly Negative

Do with that what you will.

[Heather Henke · Rating 5 out of 5]

Beautiful. I have read some of his essays too and he is so talented, brutally honest and captures language perfectly. I also recommend checking out "A good time for the truth"- where he and other Minnesotans share their experiences about race and racism.