Two Menus

""There's a language for other / languages," writes Rachel DeWoskin in "Two Menus" in a poem titled "Foreigners." But what if the "foreigner" referred to exists within us? Indeed, how do we reconcile our multiple selves, the ones we're born into with those that we develop far from childhood histories and familiar geographies? How do we reconcile the language of our parents with the ones we ourselves adopt as adults? "Two Menus" shows us what it's like to live between languages (English and Chinese) and cultures (the US and China), between histories (youth and adulthood), and how thinking in different languages and locales, over time, shifts our perspectives and our forms of expression. In traditional lyrics and experimental forms, in language that reflects the awkwardness of human communication itself, DeWoskin crosses back and forth between the divided worlds of the self, exploring the elusiveness of understanding in the midst of contradictory social norms. The result is a unique book of poems, partaking in equal parts of humor and bitterness, confusion and delight"--