The Colors of Desire: Poems

by David Mura

A collection of poems by the author of Turning Japanese , exploring race and sexuality, history and identity, through the lens of desire.

Genres: Poetry, Asian American

136 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1994

About the author

David Mura (born 1952) is a Japanese American author, poet, novelist, playwright, critic and performance artist. He has published two memoirs, Turning Japanese: Memoirs of a Sansei, which won the Josephine Miles Book Award from the Oakland PEN and was listed in the New York Times Notable Books of the Year, and Where the Body Meets Memory: An Odyssey of Race, Sexuality and Identity (1995). His most recent book of poetry is The Last Incantation (2014); his other poetry books include After We Lost Our Way, which won the National Poetry Contest, The Colors of Desire (winner of the Carl Sandburg Literary Award), and Angels for the Burning. His novel is Famous Suicides of the Japanese Empire (Coffee House Press, 2008). His writings explore the themes of race, identity and history. His blog is blog.davidmura.com.

David Mura was born in 1952 and grew up in Chicago, the oldest of four children. He is a third generation Japanese American son of parents interned during World War II. Mura earned his B.A. from Grinnell College and his M.F.A. in creative writing from Vermont College of Fine Arts. He has taught at the University of Minnesota, St. Olaf College, The Loft Literary Center, and the University of Oregon. He currently resides in Saint Paul, Minnesota, with his wife Susan Sencer and their three children; Samantha, Nikko and Tomo.

(from Wikipedia)

Reviews

[Walker James · Rating 4 out of 5]

The voice and rhythm might be too consistent, although fantastic. There is also this odd presumption that masturbation is an act of betrayal or something to be ashamed of, but I guess it's presented as complicated in the book just as it is complicated in real life, the dynamics between pornography and self-pleasure and what constitutes moral porn. For the Speaker in these poems, there is a racial betrayal/layering involved in their view of whiteness as a "paradise of flesh," an attractive feature, that invites feelings of guilt in the Speaker who feels he is betraying his people. It takes a lot of courage to write and publish about a topic like that, the self-exposure and whatnot - but I think I'd like to see other ways of talking about masturbation rather than just as a thing to be ashamed of (although, the same here is more interesting than resulting just from a sense of sin of adolescence).

[Kandace · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book is described as "a powerful meditation on the nature of desire within the matrix of race and culture" and I do agree that the work achieves this goal. That layer of desire is most explicitly in explored through sexuality but Mura also tracks a deep longing for belonging and home throughout these pages as someone carrying the impacts of historical traumas as a Japanese American. The book has a tone of deep sadness and as such, the reader should be prepared for the intense emotional landscape Mura weaves with his words. I found some of the sections to be difficult to fully grasp, as if I was a voyeur peeping in on his experiences and not totally understanding all of the references. There is a level of frustration there, which works well for the general vibe of the text for the reader who is not of his culture. And I am still wondering at what point is this work for me to better understand and just not for me.

[Isaurathewriter · Rating 5 out of 5]

While it has been years since David Mura has written this book, it is quite impressive.
I could see it as a collection of essays or even a collection of short-stories. Powerful, smart, eloquent, compassionate. With each stanza, I can sense multiple layers of deep thought. One layer is what we read, second layer is our interpretations, and third might be after-thoughts. If that makes any sense at all. Beautiful book.

[Sherry Lee · Rating 5 out of 5]

David was one of my mentors. He is very supportive of writers of color.