Cathy Song

1. Biography List of Works Cathy Song Sample Poems Inspired Poems Presentation by September Olsen Original Poems Bibliography 2011

2. Biography Biography List of Works Cathy Song: The Asian-American Writer "Song's poems are flowers—colorful, sensual and quiet—offered almost shyly as bouquets to those moments in life that seemed minor but in retrospect count the most." (“Cathy Song-Introduction”) Sample Poems This quote said by Richard Hugo, a friend of Song’s, was used to describe Cathy Song’s poetry. Cathy Song was born on August 20, 1955 in Honolulu, Hawaii. Her father, Andrew Song, was an air pilot; while her mother, Ella, was a seamstress who was also an immigrant from China. As a child, Song and her family traveled a lot which got her interested in writing about the scenery she saw and the different places she experienced (“Cathy Song Introduction”). Song started writing her first poetry collection called Picture Bride while in college. Her first actual poem, Picture Bride, was influenced by her grandmother coming to America from Korea for a marriage arranged through the exchange of pictures, hence the name “Picture Bride”. While at Tufts University in Boston, Massachusetts, Song met her husband Douglas McHarg Davenport (“Cathy Song”, Poetryfoundation.com). Inspired Poems Original Poems Bibliography

3. Biography (Cont.) Biography List of Works They then moved to Denver, Colorado so he could finish his medical degree (“Cathy Song”, apa.si.edu). While there, Song finished her second poetry collection titled Frameless Windows, Squares of Light. The couple now lives in Honolulu, Hawaii with three children (“Cathy Song”, Poetryfoundation.com). Cathy Song started writing at a young age. Her family would travel around the country a lot as a child and everything she saw influenced her to start writing. She would write about all the places they went to and the scenery she saw, but none of these writings were ever published. Her high school teacher, John Unterecker, encouraged Song to keep up her talent for writing and told her it would get her somewhere in the future (“Cathy Song”, Poetryfoundation.com). For college, Song left Hawaii and went to Boston, Massachusetts. She graduated from Wellesley College in 1977 with her Bachelors of Arts Degree. In 1981, she graduated from Boston University with her Masters of Arts degree in creative writing (“Cathy Song”, apa.si.edu). Song published her first set of poems in 1983 called Picture Bride. This series of poems won the Yale Series of Younger Poets competition. Song also won the Shelley Memorial Award and the Hawaii Award for Literature for her other poetry collections. In 1997, Song was a recipient of an annual Literature award in which she received $20,000. Song was also the first Hawaiian writer to receive national recognition for her poems (“Cathy Song”, Poetryfoundation.com). Sample Poems Inspired Poems Original Poems Bibliography

4. Biography (Cont.) Biography List of Works Cathy Song’s poetry is not meant to be known as Asian-American poetry, but some of her works are classified as that (Pao). Some of Song’s poems have been said to look like very detailed poems written about paintings she has seen. Song’s poetry is normally broken into two part poems of five stanzas which are free verse. “Song’s greatest strength lies in this marvelous organic nature of her imagery and in the complete fusion of form, image, occasion, and emotion. Every poem is marked by this naturalness of form, based unpretentiously on phrasal pauses or the breadth of a line, by an unforced storyline or ease of observation; almost every poem has a sudden eruption of metaphor, which startles, teases, illuminates.” This quote said by Shirley Lim shows how other poets respect her style of poetry. Song’s poetry is not known for being Asian-American poetry as well as other Asian-American writers (“Cathy Song”, Poetryfoundation.com). This is partly because she has stayed in her home-state of Hawaii, after college, which has not allowed her poems to spread as much as other poets on the mainland (Pao). But, she is the first Hawaiian to receive national recognition. Song also does not want herself to be classified as an Asian-American writer. She even said, “I am just a poet who happens to be Asian-American.” (“Cathy Song”, Poetryfoundation.com Sample Poems Inspired Poems Original Poems Bibliography

5. Biography Cathy Song: list of works List of Works • Poems • Adagio • Christmas Eve • Eat • Ikebana • Leaving • Litany • Out of Our Hands • Points of Reference • School Figures • Spaces We Leave Empty • Square Mile • Stink Eye • Sun worshippers • The Age of Reptiles • The Grammar of Silk • The Hotel by the Lake • The Kindness of Others • The Man Moves Earth • The Tree House • The White Porch • The Window and the Field • The Youngest Daughter • Girl Powdering Her Neck • Untouched Photograph of a Passenger • Handful • Lost Sister • Heaven • Water wings • Collections • Cloud Moving Hands • Frameless Windows, Squares of Light • The Land of Bliss • School Figures • Picture Bride Sample Poems Inspired Poems Original Poems Bibliography

6. Biography The Kindness of Others The kindness of others is all they ever wanted, the laughter of neighbors prospering in the blue light of summer. Those of the small sputtering flame And the sudden white sprung hair, Who feed off envy and grow old quickly, Desire largesse. The role of poor relation Evokes a lack They are not apt to admit, Or unbearable pity. They prefer to penetrate the giver’s Effortless knack of giving They perceive as vitality, A pulsating entity That rewards the kindness of others Tenfold. This they have witnessed. This they have tabulated relentlessly. The generosity of others Whose spirits, like their long-legged Children blossoming into a progeny Of orchards and fields, flourish. by Cathy Song Those who have never known kindness Drag into the privacy of their smallness The baskets of fruit Appearing year after year on their porches, To be picked apart In the hushed posture of thieves. They peel skin, probe flesh The color of honey As if the seeds will yield something Other than a glimmer of sweet air Rising from the roots of trees And licorice-laces, half-opened leaves. Those of the small flame, Who feed off envy and grow old quickly, Live out their lives Hungry, Glaring at themselves across the table, Wife of the cruel mouth, Husband of the thin broth Trickling like spittle. List of Works Sample Poems Inspired Poems Original Poems Bibliography Analysis of The Kindness of Others

7. Biography The Kindness of Others: Analysis List of Works In “The Kindness of Others,” Cathy Song shows how everyone, young or old, must be kind and generous to everyone through free verse and imagery. She explains how children are only nice to people if they are receiving gifts, but the children never give to others. This leads to her saying, sooner or later, they won’t be receivers since they were never givers. “Those of the small flame/who feed off envy and grow old quickly/ live out their lives/ hungry/ Glaring at themselves across the table/ wife of the cruel mouth/ husband of the thin broth/ trickling like spittle.” This quote is a very obvious stab at the ones who expect to just keep receiving kindness when they don’t give it. As they grow older, they never realize what they are doing wrong and just live their life desiring the kindness of others. Those lines from the poem also depict Song’s style of poetry. She uses free verse to really get the meaning out of what she wants people to see. Song also really throws in a lot of imagery into this poem. “To be picked apart/ in the hushed posture of thieves/ they peel skin, probe flesh/ the color of honey” She uses imagery in this to allow people to see that not being kind to people can cause others to be rude to you, too. Through Song’s free verse and imagery, she really gets out the meaning behind being kind to others and how important it is in the long run. Sample Poems Inspired Poems Original Poems Bibliography

8. Biography Sample Poems List of Works In the poem “Spaces We Left Empty,” by Cathy Song, she explains how death can impact a family very hard. “The bracelet worn since my first birthday/ cracked into thousand-year-old eggshells. / the sound could be heard/ ringing across the water.” This line taken from the poem is just one of the ways Song used imagery to show how it can shatter a life. The bracelet represents her as she heard the news of the death and how she probably mourned so loud that anyone could hear. I thought this poem was very well written in the way she wanted to get the meaning across. It doesn’t just come out and say it, and it really makes you think about what you are reading. Sample Poems Spaces We Left Empty by Cathy Song The jade slipped from my wrist with the smoothness of water leaving the mountains, silk falling from a shoulder, melon slices sliding across the tongue, the fish returning. The bracelet worn since my first birthday cracked into thousand-year-old eggshells. The sound could be heard ringing across the water where my mother woke in her sleep crying thief. Her nightgown slapped in the wind as he howled clutching his hoard. The cultured pearls. The bone flutes. The peppermint disks of jade. The clean hole in the center, Heaven: the spaces we left empty Inspired Poems Original Poems Bibliography

9. Biography Sample Poems In Cathy Song’s poem “Picture Bride,” she was writing about her own grandmother having to come to America for an arranged marriage done completely by pictures. I chose this poem because it had such a meaning behind the idea of the marriage. People now-a-days in America do not realize that this was the life for other people back then and the women sometimes had no control over what they could and couldn’t do. But sometimes, these things led to better opportunities for the women. “What things did my grandmother/ take with her? And when/ she arrived to look/ into the face of the stranger/ who was her husband/ thirteen years older than she/ did she politely untie/ the silk bow of her jacket” I thought this quote from the poem really brought the meaning together. How was a women supposed to react when she saw her husband she’d never met before for the first time? Was it just another day in the life of a Korean woman to act like that, or maybe this the start of something completely new for her. List of Works Sample Poems Picture Bride by Cathy Song She was a year youngerthan I,twenty-three when she left Korea.Did she simply closethe door of her father's house and walk away. And was it a long waythrough the tailor shops of Pusanto the wharf where the boatwaited to take her to an island whose name she hadonly recently learned,on whose shorea man waited,turning her photograph to the light when the lanterns in the camp outside Waialua Sugar Mill were litand the inside of his roomgrew luminousfrom the wings of mothsmigrating out of the cane stalks?What things did my grandmothertake with her? and whenshe arrived to lookinto the face of the strangerwho was her husband,thirteen years older than she,did she politely untiethe silk bow of her jacket,her tent-shaped dressfilling with the dry windthat blew from the surrounding fieldswhere the men were burning the cane? Inspired Poems Original Poems Bibliography

10. Biography Inspired Poems List of Works Out of Our Hands by Cathy Song Out of a hat on a piece of paper someone once gave me your name. Your name flew out of my hand, the black letters dismantling the air above the school. I watched the letters form the bird seeds of a language I needed to know, a language borrowed from the children I taught who shivered in borrowed coats. Toward evening they scattered outside the school, red-bricked and torn on the edge of Chinatown I watched them disappear into their lives, undisciplined like starlings, they disappeared in the broken shoes of the wind. Sample Poems Inspired Poems Original Poems Bibliography Inspired Poem

11. Biography Inspired Poems List of Works Memories by September Olsen The memories will never fade, Cruising through the Caribbean; It’s a once in a lifetime experience. To smell the freshness of the ocean air, To hear to sound of the waves crashing, To see the never-ending blue sea. Staying up late, dancing, talking. Having all the freedom you want. Never wanting to go home. Making new friends you’ll have forever, Seeing places you might never see again, Enjoying the warm ocean sun. Excursions you’ll always appreciate, Zip-lining through forests, Parasailing through open seas. It’s like a dream now to me, Re-thinking the fun times I had, Yet, the memories will never fade. Sample Poems Inspired Poems Original Poems Bibliography

12. Biography Inspired Poems List of Works Points of Reference by Cathy Song Sleep wrapped in water and moss-green fur, summer nights you climbed the hill to peer into the dark, listening for your name as it fell like a coin into the well. Somewhere between desire and acceptance— blossoms of water opening at the sound of you— your eyes grew accustomed to the dark. When you were still in the stars, she’d say of a time before you were born, as if the world, the animals and the trees and the light within it were dark and prehistoric. You wanted to believe there existed It was like falling through a mirror into someone else’s story, the years when the children were small. Your mother’s story perhaps of falling into a lake at the edge of summer when you were still in the stars, waiting to be borne across the water, her body, leaf-light, skimming across the tar-green water, thick as the well water where the blind trout lived. As children you knew he lived there, swallowed into the sunless shaft, his tail a blunt and soft propeller stirring the velvet water. Sample Poems Inspired Poems Original Poems Bibliography Inspired Poem

13. Biography Inspired Poems List of Works Keep Going by September Olsen It was like falling through a mirror Our hopes shattered into a million pieces, Our endless hours of hard-work, crushed. How can we save ourselves now? All of our dedication now must shine, there was nothing to do but keep going. It was like falling through a mirror That moment I realized something was wrong. Was this really happening? It felt like I was stuck in my own scary movie With nowhere to turn, nowhere to run. There’s nothing I could do but keep going. Sample Poems It was like falling through a mirror, But I knew my team felt the same, We were all hoping for a miracle, For another glitch or just pure silence. But nothing ever came. There was nothing to do but keep going. It was like falling through a mirror, Until a courageous teammate shined through, She screamed the counts out, Hoping everyone would catch on. The nightmare was over, Because now, all we wanted was to keep going. Inspired Poems Original Poems Bibliography

14. Biography Original Poems List of Works Beyond Love by September Olsen Dancing is a feeling more than any other. The adrenaline rush, The crowd cheering. I wish the feeling would last forever, The feeling as if no one can stop you, The feeling as if you’re the only one in the room. To be on that floor has more meaning than the words in a dictionary, For the dancer, it’s expressing your emotions through movement, For the audience, it’s like reading the most enchanting story and not wanting it to end. That moment when you first step foot on the dance floor, That moment when the crowd explodes with energy, That moment when you hear the first beat of music, It’s beyond dancing, Beyond love, It’s the passion. Sample Poems Inspired Poems Original Poems Bibliography

15. Biography Original Poems List of Works Champion by September Olsen There’ll always be those practices When you want to give up, And just quit trying. There’ll always be those practices When you feel exhausted And just want to stop. There’ll always be that one practice, That you just want to end And never come back But it’s at these practices, When giving up is not an option, When you need to try your hardest, It’s at these practices, When you need to push through those last moves, When you need to keep going, No matter how tough it gets. And it’s because of these practices That you go on that floor and look better than anyone else. And it’s because of those practices, That you can proudly say, “I Am the Champion” Sample Poems Inspired Poems Original Poems Bibliography

16. Biography Bibliography List of Works Biography info: http://www.poetryfoundation.org/bio/cathy-song http://apa.si.edu/Curriculum%20Guide-Final/songbio.htm http://www.enotes.com/poetry-criticism/song-cathy http://asianamericanpoetry.blogspot.com/2006/12/poetry-of-cathy-song.html http://www.poetryfoundation.org/bio/cathy-song# pictures: http://www.enotes.com/poetry-criticism/song-cathy http://www.tower.com/picture-bride-cathy-song-paperback/wapi/101247911 http://www.amazon.com/Cloud-Moving-Hands-Pitt-Poetry/dp/images/0822960001 http://www.paperbackswap.com/Land-Bliss-Cathy-Song/book/0822957701/ http://www.paperbackswap.com/School-Figures-Pitt-Cathy-Song/book/0822955172/ http://www.loc.gov/exhibits/911/911-object.html http://www.seascanner.com/schiff.php?schiff=Carnival+Glory http://alleventstrophy.com/catalog.asp?prodid=715994&showprevnext=1 http://www.dreamstime.com/stock-photos-broken-mirror-image8073673 http://www.mmorpg.com/newsroom.cfm/read/19575 Sample Poems Inspired Poems Original Poems Bibliography