{"product_id":"afterland-poems-1","title":"Afterland: Poems","description":"Longlisted for the National Book Award for Poetry\n\nThe 2016 winner of the Walt Whitman Award of the Academy of American Poets, selected by Carolyn Forché\n\nWhen I make the crossing, you must not be taken no matter what\nthe current gives. When we reach the camp,\n\nthere will be thousands like us.\nIf I make it onto the plane, you must follow me to the roads\nand waiting pastures of America.\n\nWe will not ride the water today on the shoulders of buffalo\nas we used to many years ago, nor will we forage\nfor the sweetest mangoes.\n\nI am refugee. You are too. Cry, but do not weep.\n\n―from “Transmigration”\n\nAfterland is a powerful, essential collection of poetry that recounts with devastating detail the Hmong exodus from Laos and the fate of thousands of refugees seeking asylum. Mai Der Vang is telling the story of her own family, and by doing so, she also provides an essential history of the Hmong culture’s ongoing resilience in exile. Many of these poems are written in the voices of those fleeing unbearable violence after U.S. forces recruited Hmong fighters in Laos in the Secret War against communism, only to abandon them after that war went awry. That history is little known or understood, but the three hundred thousand Hmong now living in the United States are living proof of its aftermath. With poems of extraordinary force and grace, Afterland holds an original place in American poetry and lands with a sense of humanity saved, of outrage, of a deep tradition broken by war and ocean but still intact, remembered, and lived.\u003cbr\u003eASIN: 1555977707\u003cbr\u003eVSKU: RDV.1555977707.VG\u003cbr\u003eCondition: Very Good\u003cbr\u003eAuthor\/Artist:Vang, Mai Der\u003cbr\u003eBinding: Paperback\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eNote:\u003c\/b\u003e Any images shown are stock photographs and product may differ from what is shown.  \u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eCondition Notes\u003c\/b\u003e: This book is in excellent condition. There may be minimal writing on the inside cover or cover page. Cover image on the book may vary from photo. Ships out quickly in a secure plastic mailer.  \u003cbr\u003e","brand":"Reliant Bookstore","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":47643712716977,"sku":"RDV.1555977707.VG","price":6.98,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0544\/8872\/7729\/files\/1555977707-0_ba4d6d33-fe84-4a11-b484-7f8199ec9a76.jpg?v=1782584084","url":"https:\/\/www.reliantbookstore.com\/products\/afterland-poems-1","provider":"Reliant Bookstore","version":"1.0","type":"link"}