Brandon Shimoda’s new collection of poetry, Portuguese is a welcome addition to the poetic canon. A reimagining of Walt Whitman’s Song of Myself for the modern age, with a little bit of the Beats thrown in, Shimoda’s collection a continuation of the American poetic tradition. But America has changed. Shimoda brushes up against all the hot topics, without standing on a soap-box–the Middle East, sexual identity, etc.
I have a shirt made of paper–I wear it to the Lebanese wedding
I do not know the bride or groom–I take refuge ini
A paper existence, within
My body–weak–I roll
My body up my arms
Paper starving the distribution
—from “The Cedars of Lebanon”
The result of collaboration between 2 small publishing houses (Tin House and Octopus Books), Portuguese represents an evolution of the publishing industry. When a lot of publishing houses are cutting back their poetry interests, Tin House and Octopus Books are uniting to keep poetry alive.
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