Under the Oaks at Holmes Hall,
Overtaken by Rain

Poem by Garrett Hongo

Brush design by Marilyn Reaves

A desert downpour in early spring,
and I'm standing under California oaks
gazing through rain as the grey sky thunders.
I don't know why the nightingale sings
to Kubla Khan and not to me, nineteen
and marked by nothing, not even ceremony
or the slash of wind tearing through trees. . . .

Award-winning poet Garrett Kaoru Hongo is the author of two books of verse, Yellow Light and The River of Heaven, which explore the experiences of Asian-Americans in Anglo society. He has also published a work of prose, Volcano: A Memoir of Hawaii. Hongo's style has invited comparison to Walt Whitman, and his language has been descibed as both elegantly lyrical and unself-consciously earthy. Garrett Hongo is Professor of Creative Writing at the University of Oregon.

Marilyn Reaves, a lettering artist and designer, teaches in the Department of Art at the University of Oregon.

Specifications

• Edition of 100 press-numbered copies
• Signed by the author
• 17.5 x 11.5 inches
• Printed on dampened handmade Twinrocker Tatyana paper
• Designed and printed by Sandy Tilcock
• Publication Date: December 1999

Price $55.00

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