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Hilary Tham's memoirs reveal the many images, cultures, myths, and memories out of which her poetry has emerged. Tham recalls a life of many textures: her Chinese ancestry, her family's life in Malaysia, her early education and conversion to Christianity, her university studies, marriage to a U.S. Peace Corps volunteer, and more. Amidst memories of her raffish father and inspired, over-worked mother are stories of monkey raids, egg noodles, a lascivious Buddhist monk, marriages, funerals, neighbors - and the breaching of taboos.
The poems interspersed in the text and the "family album" photographs enrich this narrative of a life in which poetry, passion, warmth, stubbornness, community, and clarity of thought all play leading roles.
