STACEY S. PARK

The poems in the Year of the Sheep are immigrant songs. Using the poetic imagination as a space to represent the complexities of assimilation, cultural hybridity, a religious upbringing, and other experiences, this collection narrows in on the link between language, location, and self. The mix of natural imagery and pop culture nods culminate into a nostalgic hum that seems to yearn for home, wherever that might be.

From all sides, the speaker is bombarded with ways of belonging—the fear of being “wrong” and losing the herd haunts them. But they cannot help continue to question these pre-determined paths and pervasive narratives that dictate the major actions and events of a “good,” immigrant life. What if the lost sheep is not lost but searching? This collection brings this question to the fore.