Ninety-five Nights of Listening
Poems
HarperCollins · Print & ebook · August 15, 2002
Malinda Markham's peoms are inspired in part by her fascination with Japanese language, art, and literature.
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- Who it’s for
- These poems trace Markham’s reflections on Japanese history and culture through language, memory, and belief.
- Themes
- Japanese history and culture, Women's voices across time, Language, memory, and belief
- Pacing
- Reflective
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Start with this bookAbout this book
Malinda Markham's peoms are inspired in part by her fascination with Japanese language, art, and literature. Her reactions to and interpretations of that country's history, culture, and people are in these verses, echoing with the voices and silences of women across time. Markham imagines the experiences of many women: a geisha laments her past in "Geisha Considered as Making," as a mother laments for her daughter's future in "Yield to This."
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Markham is intrigued with how language tries but ultimately fails to hold memory in place. She grapples with the translation of words and feeling and shows how this failure also brings a searching for belief - a word that repeats throughout these poems - in a world that cannot allow it. Writes Cole Swenson, "Markham's language has the delicacy of the fine bones of the inner ear; it is, itself, a form of listening - to insects, birds, traffic, to the world. Her listening brings things into being, catching the nuances of change, from season to season, culture to culture, impression to language. This is a radiant collection."
Language and Memory
These poems trace Markham’s reflections on Japanese history and culture through language, memory, and belief.
Come here for
- Women’s experiences across time, including a geisha’s lament and a mother’s.
Expect
- Translations of words and feeling, and the limits of language to hold memory.
Where it sits
| Japanese Poetry | 51% |
|---|---|
| Women Poets | 23% |
| American Poetry | 22% |
Percentages are BookFrontier’s reading of the book.
Publisher categories
- Translating & Interpreting
- Poetry Anthologies
- American Poetry
- African American Poetry
Show all 8 publisher categories
- Asian American Poetry
- Japanese Poetry
- Caribbean & Latin American Poetry
- Place Poetry
- Authors
- Malinda Markham
- Publisher
- HarperCollins
- Published
- August 15, 2002
- Format
- Print & ebook
- Theme
- Japanese history and culture · Women's voices across time · Language, memory, and belief
- Reading lane
- Translating & Interpreting