American Parables (Paperback) (ISBN-13: 9780299335748)

Daniel Khalastchi's third collection provides an uncompromising exploration into the political and societal disturbances facing America today. Electioneering, lack of affordable health care, the increase in mass shootings, and the continued fight for equal rights are juxtaposed against an unlikely sense of hope and optimism. Lurking behind each page is the ever-present issue of immigration, with specific focus on the escape of the author's father from Iraq and the pressures linked to living as an Arab Jew in the middle of the United States.

Through unnerving gallows humor and radical honesty, these poems redefine the American experience by asking the reader to consider what it means to live in the shadow of a perceived sense of freedom and to have faith when believing feels hopeless. Khalastchi's perspective as an Iraqi Jewish American brings sharp focus to the holistic uncertainties of religion, politics, assimilation, illness, love, and loss--with absurd, visceral, and wry acclaim. I type into
the internet your high schooland find rubble. Your daughter
has the flu. We are sickwith disappointment but
everyone is fine.
--Excerpt from "First Generation: Our Escape"

Author: Daniel Khalastchi
ISBN-10: 0299335747
ISBN-13: 9780299335748
Publisher: University of Wisconsin Press
Language: English
Published: 11/30/2021
Pages: 120
Format: Paperback
Weight: 0.30lbs
Size: 7.40h x 5.40w x 0.40d

About the Author
Daniel Khalastchi is the author of Manoleria and Tradition, and his poems have appeared in The Believer Logger, Colorado Review, The Iowa Review, and The Rumpus. He lives in Iowa City where he directs the University of Iowa's Magid Center for Undergraduate Writing; he is also the co-founder and managing editor of Rescue Press.