Foreigner

by Keith J. Holyoak

Poetry. Numbered limited edition. Illustrations by Jim Holyoak. "It is not every day a professional cognitive psychologist turns into a poet, yet that is what we have in Keith Holyoak. His study of Chinese poetry, especially Li Bai (Li Po) and Du Fu (Tu Fu), was the catalyst that brought about this remarkable metamorphosis. He has somehow managed to let the spirit of Chinese poetry speak through him, with no loss of his sense of being an American. A wonderful intelligence is brought to the task, which understands the profound subtlety of poetry, no matter what nationality it is. He writes in 'Return to Peach Blossom Spring': 'Radiance washed / The blindness from my eyes.' We are able to re-experience the world through him, renewed in this way. His grasp of form, of political reality, of transience, and of the redemptive powers working in poetry, bring to American literature something no country can afford to a sense of class in the fine arts. The Dos Madres Press is to be congratulated for publishing this book, which is sensitively illustrated by Jim Holyoak, son of the poet and psychologist."—Sebastian Barker FRSL, poet and editor of The London Magazine 2002-2008

114 pages, Hardcover

First published October 10, 2012

About the author

Keith Holyoak—cognitive scientist, poet, and translator of classical Chinese poetry—grew up on a dairy farm in British Columbia, Canada. He received his B.A. from the University of British Columbia, and his Ph.D. in psychology from Stanford University. He first joined the faculty of the University of Michigan, and later the University of California, Los Angeles, where he is a Distinguished Professor of Psychology. Holyoak has published over 200 papers and books. A recipient of a John Simon Guggenheim Fellowship, he is a member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, and a Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science.