num_pages: 80
description: WINNER OF THE 2003 CRAB ORCHARD AWARD SERIES IN POETRY OPEN COMPETITIONIn Jon Pineda's debut collection Birthmark, loss takes the shape of a scar, memory the shape of a childhood, and identity the shape of a birthmark on a lover's thigh. Like water taking the form of its container, Pineda's poems swell to fill the lines of his experiences. Against the backdrop of Tidewater, Virginia's crabs and cicadas, Pineda invokes his mestizo― the Tagalog word for being half Filipino―childhood, weaving laments for a tenuous paternal relationship and the loss of a sibling. Channeling these fragmented memories into a new discovery of self, Birthmark reclaims an identity, delicate yet unrelenting, with plaintive tones marked equally by pain, reflection, and redemption.
language: English
title: Birthmark
titlecomplete: Birthmark (Crab Orchard Series in Poetry)
genres: Poetry
ratings_count: 37
awards: awardedAt: 1041408000000
name: Crab Orchard Award Series in Poetry Open Competition
publisher: Southern Illinois University Press