Book

Yau, John, 1950-

Diary of small discontents : new & selected poems 1974-2024 / John Yau.

Oakland, California : Omnidawn Publishing, 2025.

255 pages ; 23 cm

"This collection brings together work from half a century of writing by John Yau. Preoccupied with forms and musical structures, Yau's work includes sestinas, sonnets, pantoums, and lists, as well as invented forms. Employing both strict and open-ended frameworks, Yau creates multi-faceted poems that can shift abruptly from humor to outrage and consider topics including Chinese American identity, school shootings, invented countries, and haunted memories. Some poems are grounded in an autobiographical voice, while others take on the voices of other characters, including contemporary artists and a fictional Chinese private eye. Spanning the vast diversity of Yau's forms and subjects, the poems in Diary of Small Discontents add up to an unapologetically original collection"-- Provided by publisher.

American poetry -- 20th century.

American poetry -- 21st century.

Poetry.

Fiction.

Section 1 (1974-1988). After moving -- The reading of an ever-changing tale -- Ten songs -- Cameo of a Chinese woman on Mulberry Street -- Robert Herrick -- Chinese villanelle -- From Scenes from the life of Boull?ee -- Late night movies I -- Late night movies II -- Late night movies III -- Shanghai shenanigans -- The dream life of a coffin factory in Lynn, Massachusetts -- Broken off by the music -- Corpse and mirror (I) -- No one ever tried to kiss Anna May Wong -- Genghis Chan: Private Eye I -- Genghis Chan: Private Eye III -- Genghis Chan: Private Eye VI -- Genghis Chan: Private Eye XIX -- Genghis Chan: Private Eye XXXIX -- Inuit villanelle -- Modern love -- Section 2 (1989-1995). First and last views (I) -- New York Map Company (1) -- New York Map Company (2) -- A is for automobile -- Library -- Apartment -- After Emma Goldman -- After Heinrich Heine -- From GIANT WALL (A notebook) -- Angel Atrapado I -- Angel Atrapado IV -- Angel Atrapado VII -- Self-portrait with Max Beckmann -- Second metabolic isthmus sestina -- Dunk not in Europe -- Section 3 (1996-2004). Variations on a sentence by Laura (Riding) Jackson -- Russian letter 1 -- Russian letter 3 -- Russian letter 6 -- Postcard from Trakl -- 830 Fireplace Road -- Borrowed love poems -- Ing Grish -- the late tale -- Nasty orders pacifies queen -- Peter Lorre reminisces about being a sidekick -- Domestic bliss -- In between and around -- Conversation after midnight -- Broken sonnet -- In the kingdom of poetry -- Section 4 (2005-2012). Andalusia (1) -- Andalusia (2) -- Andalusia (6) -- Andalusia (8) -- Ill-advised love poem -- One hundred poems -- Section 5 (2013-2020). From My adventures in monochrome -- Epithalamium -- O Pin Yin Sonnet (4) -- O Pin Yin Sonnet (11) -- O Pin Yin Sonnet (13) -- O Pin Yin Sonnet (16) -- O Pin Yin Sonnet (18) -- O Pin Yin Sonnet (21) -- O Pin Yin Sonnet (26) -- O Pin Yin Sonnet (28) -- Written in the shadows cast by The Burning of the Houses of Lords and Commons (1835) by J. M. W. Turner -- Firefly promises -- From Black threads from Meng Chiao 1. -- From Black threads from Meng Chiao 2. -- Egyptian sonnet (1) -- Egyptian sonnet (2) -- Egyptian sonnet (5) -- Egyptian sonnet (18) -- Movie night -- Overnight -- After I turned sixty-five -- Music from childhood -- Midway -- Section 6 (2021-2023). Hearsay song -- On being told that I don't look and act Chinese -- After I turn sixty-eight -- After I turn sixty-nine -- Confessions of a recycled shopping bag -- Variation on a line by Duo Duo -- In memory of my parents -- The congressman's explanations -- The president's second telegram -- A painter's thoughts (1) -- A painter's thoughts (3) -- A painter's thoughts (4) -- A painter's thoughts (6) -- A painter's thoughts (7) -- Hotel Jane Alice Peters -- A view of the tropics covered in ash -- Unbidden -- Too far to write down -- Charles Baudelaire and I meet in the Oval Garden -- After I turned seventy-one -- Chinatown blues -- From Li Shangyin enters Manhattan -- Elsa and Charles with cameo by Tallulah -- Constance Dowling's eyes -- Section 7 (2024). Morning notes I-X -- Cento for David Shapiro -- For Brice Marden (1938-2023) via Han Shan -- Documentary cinema -- Silent film without music -- A be sky -- Aging elfin blues -- A voice in the studio of Peter Paul Rubens -- Diary of small discontents -- Memories of Charles Street, Boston.

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