Drivers at the Short-Time Motel

Ephemeral lives, and souls lost in the tattered fabric of war, displacement, and ruined love find hope, redemption, and a common voice in Eugene Gloria's artful concoction of American and Filipino vernaculars. While some of these thirty poems deal with the landscape and folkways of contemporary Filipinos, others locate themselves on the streets and byways of present-day America. Like many poets of dual heritage, Gloria's work is concerned with self-definition, with the attempt to reconcile a feeling of exile and homelessness. Frequently taking the form of character studies and first-person narratives, Gloria's poems poignantly illuminate the common man's search for connection to the self and to the world."Eugene Gloria's Drivers at the Short-Time Motel is propelled by an imagistic sincerity and paced lyricism. Each poem seems to embody the plain-spoken as well as the embellishments that we associate with classical and modern Asian poetry. Though many of the poems address the lingering hurt of cultural and economic imperialism, worlds coexist in the same skin through magical imagery. Gauged by a keen eye, history is scrutinized, but through a playful exactness. These wonderful poems are trustworthy." --Yusef Komunyaaka

Binding Type: Paperback
Publisher: Penguin Books
Published: 06/01/2000
ISBN: 9780140589252
Pages: 80
Weight: 0.22lbs
Size: 8.41h x 5.51w x 0.27d

Review Citations: Kirkus Reviews 05/01/2000 pg. 602
Publishers Weekly 05/29/2000 pg. 80
Library Journal 06/01/2000 pg. 134
New York Times 08/20/2000 pg. 17
Publishers Weekly 05/22/2000