Stranger At Home, An Anthology

American Poetry With An Accent

Edited by Andrey Gritsman, Roger Weingarten, Kurt Brown, Carmen Firan

Review by Zvi A. Sesling

The names that jump out are Anselm Hollo, Ilya Kaminsky, Laure-Anne Bosselaar and of course, Andrei Codrescu and 39 other talented poets.  The volume says the poets are writing in a nonnative language, that they are American poets of foreign origin.

The poems include those about garage sales, the tip of an index finger, ancient dancers, leftovers, a fawn, the Holocaust, siblings, words, escape and those two words that always bother many people: designated areas.

The volume should show anyone reading that American poets do not have to born and bred on the shores between the Atlantic and Pacific oceans, or on islands that are part

of the country. They can be born in any number of countries, grow up there, speak a tongue foreign to us, not necessarily be famous and write wonderful poetry.

Some of the poets teach at the university level, and they come from the former Soviet Union, Romania, India, Taiwan, Ukraine, the Philippines, Italy, Mexico, Hungary, Israel,

Poland, to name just a few of the countries from which these talented poets come.

Yes, the anthology has been around a while, but if you get the opportunity to see it in a bookstore or to order it from InterPoezia, don’t miss the opportunity. It is a wonderful volume and the editors have selected outstanding poets and their substantial creative efforts. Poets can learn a lot from reading these, as can general readers.  Enjoy.