{"product_id":"leavings-paperback","title":"Leavings - Paperback","description":"\u003cdiv\u003e\u003cp style=\"text-align: right;\"\u003e\u003ca href=\"https:\/\/reportcopyrightinfringement.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow\"\u003e\u003cb\u003eReport copyright infringement\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/a\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003c\/div\u003e\u003cp\u003eby \u003cb\u003eStephanie Kay Sugioka\u003c\/b\u003e (Author)\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eLike a richly modulated solo, the living voice of Stephanie Sugioka's \u003ci\u003e\u003ci\u003eLeavings\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/i\u003e rises from and accompanies the years, sharing the seasons of a lifetime: \"The trees with infinite grace \/ gave up their leaves \/ and we wallowed in their wealth.\" Given her unerring ear, her loving eye, her unsparing candor, she might, in describing her aunt, be imaging her own poetics, \"poised \/ as a lotus on a long cool stem \/ And down her spine there runs \/ a fine thread of Samurai steel.\"\u003c\/p\u003e \u003cp\u003e\u003cbr\u003e-\u003cb\u003e\u003cb\u003eEleanor Wilner\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e, Chancellor of the Academy of American Poets and author, \u003ci\u003e\u003ci\u003eBefore Our Eyes: New and Selected Poems 1975-2017\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/i\u003e\u003ci\u003e \u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eThrough the words of \u003ci\u003e\u003ci\u003eLeavings, \u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/i\u003e Stephanie Sugioka's exquisite new poetry collection, the Japanese \u003ci\u003e\u003ci\u003ekaze\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/i\u003e\u003ci\u003e \u003c\/i\u003e- a wind of both nature and spirit - circles and sweeps, storms and whispers through her words. \"For a woman's soul is like wind,\" she writes in \"After Reading \u003ci\u003e\u003ci\u003eThe Tale of Genji.\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/i\u003e\" From her shattered childhood family in \"Dismembered,\" where \"in the high silver light \/ the angels are still screaming,\" to holding her husband, Jeffrey, diagnosed with terminal brain cancer, when she feels \"a tremor \/ deep in [his] body \/ that told me it was shutting down,\" Sugioka pens her bitter sorrow in images of frozen earth, hollows, and husks. And yet, in the effortless quality of poems that seem lifted by wind and carried not only to the darkest depths but to the ascendant music of birds and blossoms, rivers and trees, we see a luminous poet with formidable intelligence and strength. Of her daughter, she writes, \"When the whole world goes gray \/ I take out Sarah's art.\" Of Aaron, her son, she writes, \"When they laid [him] in my arms . . . his dark, enormous eyes \/ devouring my face . . . I knew I was playing for keeps.\" I adore these poems. In one of the last, \"Father of Waters,\" addressed to Walt Whitman, she imagines \"the wind your endless voice \/ calling, so softly, \/ come home.\"\u003c\/p\u003e \u003cp\u003e\u003cbr\u003e-\u003cb\u003e\u003cb\u003eSuzanne Underwood Rhodes\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e, Arkansas Poet Laureate and author, \u003ci\u003e\u003ci\u003eThe Perfume of Pain\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n            \u003cdiv\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eNumber of Pages:\u003c\/strong\u003e 174\u003c\/div\u003e\n            \u003cdiv\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eDimensions:\u003c\/strong\u003e 0.4 x 9 x 6 IN\u003c\/div\u003e\n            \u003cdiv\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003ePublication Date:\u003c\/strong\u003e May 07, 2026\u003c\/div\u003e\n            ","brand":"BooksCloud","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":48043779260637,"sku":"9798901467251","price":37.26,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0811\/9867\/8237\/files\/VIF0UjtZHd9798901467251.webp?v=1781658833","url":"https:\/\/handfulofbooks.com\/products\/leavings-paperback","provider":"Handful of Books","version":"1.0","type":"link"}