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The Crane Wife
Sharon Hashimoto explores themes of what is heard and misinterpreted, what is left unexplained, and what is passed down in The Crane Wife. In these pieces, the Sansei poet leafs through old photographs—one of which is of a newlywed couple with the groom’s image cut away. Here is the rediscovered piece of barbed wire from outside the Heart Mountain concentration camp. That wire, a lei, and a car trip to an empty lot are all bits of evidence. Her questions address grandparents, mother and father, siblings, and the next generation. Hashimoto also reinvents Japanese folk tales and explores the different voices of the members of a downed JAL jet. Her poems travel in new directions in an attempt to fill in the gaps.
96 pages, Paperback
First published December 1, 2003
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Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews
February 6, 2008
Most of these poems felt extremely flat. They didn't take you anywhere new, just plodded toward the expected. Sometimes it seemed as if the writer had an idea in mind for a short story or just a vignette, but didn't know how to expand on it and shoved it into the form of a poem with line breaks. The poems that were memorable and good were a selection about a plane crash. The poems were juxtaposed against excerpts from the news and explored the crash as a whole from those searching, those who survived, and the people who died.
February 28, 2008
This book inspired a great Decemberist's tune "The Crane Wife" which sparked my desire to read it. It is BEAUTIFULLY written and illustrated and a great read for kids. Check it out...
July 24, 2014
Sharon Hashimoto has a keen ear for the lyrical, for the compression of sounds and lines. She is a sculptor of moments. This collection of poems is one to be studied and emulated.
Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews