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Colonize Me
Association for Asian American Studies Award for Outstanding Achievement Winner Library of Virginia Literary Award Winner American Fiction Award (Poetry) Winner Saturnalia Books Prize Winner Montaigne Medal Finalist National Indie Excellence Award Finalist Alice James Award for Poetry Finalist New Issues Press Prize Finalist Pleiades Press Prize Finalist Crab Orchard Series Prize in Poetry Semi-finalist
"Benjamín Naka-Hasebe Kingsley has an athlete's feel for moving through poems. Just as the reader settles into an image, Kingsley pivots and plots a new course. In the process we learn to let go of our assumptions about who this poet might be, and instead read in awe at the play. These poems play with such fervor that every reading reveals another detail, another escape hatch Kingsley has left for us to find. I love these poems and their many voices. I love their contradictions. I love their energy. Read Colonize Me and then read it again."
―José Olivarez , author of Citizen Illegal
"Benjamín Naka-Hasebe Kingsley has an athlete's feel for moving through poems. Just as the reader settles into an image, Kingsley pivots and plots a new course. In the process we learn to let go of our assumptions about who this poet might be, and instead read in awe at the play. These poems play with such fervor that every reading reveals another detail, another escape hatch Kingsley has left for us to find. I love these poems and their many voices. I love their contradictions. I love their energy. Read Colonize Me and then read it again."
―José Olivarez , author of Citizen Illegal
- GenresPoetryIndigenous
96 pages, Paperback
First published March 15, 2019
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Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews
August 11, 2023
so good whoa
April 19, 2025
“Saddle a colt in its youth load it with a heavy enough burden to buckle its knees. Then when you mount him the weight of a grown man will seem less than the whole world.” / “If you know that I am the horse please remember I was once just a boy.”
this collection was jaw breaking at times and like a dripping slow faucet at others. i couldn’t connect with every poem, but the ones i did were like lightning. so glad i found this on my library app.
this collection was jaw breaking at times and like a dripping slow faucet at others. i couldn’t connect with every poem, but the ones i did were like lightning. so glad i found this on my library app.
July 9, 2022
I really just ate these poems up. There was only one in the whole book that I didn’t like at all. The author has a very interesting style and flow which sort of switches throughout his writing. There’s a lot to unpack here, but I enjoyed every minute of it.
March 24, 2022
Kingsley seems like a really interesting person! I’m not the best appreciator of poetry.
Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews