3. “There are no American combat forces in Laos” – Richard Nixon
4. “North” – lines 4 and 5 are taken from the Weather Network
Acknowledgements
These poems have appeared in the following places: “Cluster” in The Globe and Mail; “Mother” as “Third Eye” in This Magazine; “Minute Maid Poster” as “Poster” in Taddle Creek and a booklet by Academy of American Poets; “Sunrise with Sea Monsters” in Paul Vermeersch’s sunrisewithseamonsters.blogspot.com; “A Plastic Bear” as “A Blue Plastic Horse” and “We Always Lived With Mice” in Hart House Review; “Pregnant” in Room Magazine; “Brokerage Report I” and “Brokerage Report II” in Canada and Beyond; “A Seahorse” in Arc Magazine; “Gayatri” in The Walrus, Best Canadian Poetry (2016), and Best of Best Canadian Poetry (2017); “Zevart” published as a broadside by Junction Books; “Brokerage Report V” in Canadian Notes & Queries; “My Mother Gave Me” in Brick; “Cost” as “Squirrel” in Lao American Review; “Twins” in Maisonneuve; parts of “O” in What the Poets Are Doing; “North” in The Goose; “Blowfish” as a limited edition chapbook by Jay and Hazel Millar; “Theory of Writing” in The Walrus; and “Mister Snuffleupagus” in The Puritan. Thank you to the editors. Thank you to the Ontario Arts Council Works in Progress and Writers’ Reserve programs. Thank you to the University of Ottawa and their writer-in-residence program. Thank you to the Guggenheim Museum and Academy of American Poets.
Souvankham Thammavongsa is the author of three poetry books, Light (2013), winner of the Trillium Book Award for Poetry; Found (2007); and Small Arguments (2003), winner of the ReLit Award. Her writing has appeared in Harper’s, Granta, Brick, Best American Nonrequired Reading, and other places. She has been in residence at Yaddo and has performed her work at the Guggenheim Museum in New York. She was born in the Lao refugee camp in Nong Khai, Thailand, and was raised and educated in Toronto.
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