Peach State

Poems

Adrienne Su

• Publisher: University of Pittsburgh Press
• Year: 2021
• ISBN:
  9780822988236
• Topic: Literature
• Subtopic: Poetry
• Index: Literature

Peach State has its origins in Atlanta, Georgia, the author's hometown and an emblematic city of the New South, a name that reflects the American region's invigoration in recent decades by immigration and a spirit of reinvention. Focused mainly on food and cooking, these poems explore the city's transformation from the mid-twentieth century to today, as seen and shaped by Chinese Americans. The poems are set in restaurants, home kitchens, grocery stores, and the houses of friends and neighbors. Often employing forms—sonnet, villanelle, sestina, palindrome, ghazal, rhymed stanzas—they also mirror the constant negotiation with tradition that marks both immigrant and Southern experience. Excerpt from "You're from the South?" As if it had never joined the Union.As if we had to go through Customs when bringing Vidalia onionsto uncles and cousins in the North, where Confuciansand their brethren flock for education. As if our speech required translationor at least interpretation. As if Hartsfield-Jacksonwere a plantation, the Amtrak Crescenta moon over rows of cotton, and all of us a populationthat never saw snow or migration.

Table of contents

• Cover Page
• Title Page
• Copyright Page
• Dedication
• Contents
• Elements
• Small Eats
• Your Table Should Be Round
• Never Mind, Let’s Go Out
• Desserts and Drinks
• Acknowledgments