Overview

Lake Tahoe: home of the Washoe Tribe, a shining blue jewel that crowns the Sierra Nevada, and a beloved American vacation destination made accessible by the transcontinental railroad built largely by Chinese laborers. This gorgeous location forms the site from which Caroline M. Mar’s stunning collection, Water Guest, attempts to reconcile issues of identity, ownership, and place. The poems wander through Mar’s attempts to locate herself geographically, genealogically, and etymologically. A direct ancestor was a railroad laborer; is that why her love for the land feels older than herself? Or is it the siren call of the deep, clear water? Raising questions of inheritance, the conundrum of land ownership, and the violence of history, Mar gives voice to the lost writing of Chinese laborers and silent communion to those of us still here—immigrant and Indigenous, settler and resister. This beautiful collection finds acceptance, if not resolution, through the questions themselves.

Full Product Details

Author:   Caroline M. Mar
Publisher:   University of Wisconsin Press
Imprint:   University of Wisconsin Press
Weight:   0.454kg
ISBN:  

9780299352646

ISBN 10:   0299352641
Pages:   104
Publication Date:   30 June 2025
Audience:   General/trade ,  General
Format:   Paperback
Publisher's Status:   Active
Availability:   Out of stock  
The supplier is temporarily out of stock of this item. It will be ordered for you on backorder and shipped when it becomes available.

Table of Contents

Failed Translations Dream of the Lake Mythology Stage 1: Cold Shock / Threat No. 1 Loss of Breathing Control Stage 1: Cold Shock / Threat No. 2 Heart and Blood Pressure Problems Stage 1: Cold Shock / Threat No. 3 Mental Problems With a surface area of 191.6 square miles and a depth of 1,645 feet, Lake Tahoe is the largest and the second-deepest alpine lake in the United States Naming Intelligible Burials Stage 2: Physical Incapacitation Portraits of the Ancestor 1870 census; Truckee, CA: Ah John, male, 18; occupation: prostitute Stage 3: Hypothermia S---- Valley Fire Control Stage 4: Circum-rescue Collapse Catalog of Writings Left by Chinese Railroad Laborers of the C.P.R.R. A Correspondence Tragedy Mercy Guest: First Translation Swim Team Outer Space Song for Great-Grandfather Tie Guest: Second Translation Property John Chinaman Celestials Guest: Third Translation Certainty Being Away from the Lake Distinctions The Ghost Ship Song for Great-Great-Grandfather Lake of the Sky Acknowledgments Notes

Reviews

""In a probing search for lost connection, through powerful poems centered on Tahoe's icy lake, Mar resists the erasure of her Chinese ancestors who labored there (not an ink stroke left in their own hand), inquiring into their silence in eloquent language of unstoppable invention, evocative lyricism, and historical correction.""--Eleanor Wilner ""Mar contends with the white-gloved history of the American West, forcing us to hold our breaths, to keep our eyes open, to face what has been hidden, to dive into the murkiness beneath our feet. She doesn't hold her tongue in this searing collection. 'What is the melting point of history?' she dares. Incendiary--so hot--this book; it just might burn shit down.""--Tommye Blount ""Whether meditating on the natural world, interrogating the personal life, or excavating history, the waters in this collection are vast, ancient, and powerful. Mar writes with a fine lyrical precision and a stirring range of feeling to connect the world of the reader to the world of the poem. In each of these pages you'll find something human, something of yourself, as the poems call out: 'Here you are, reflected / in the water's depths.'""--Matthew Olzmann

Author Information

Caroline M. Mar is the great-granddaughter of a railroad laborer and the author of Special Education and the chapbook Dream of the Lake. A high school health educator in her hometown of San Francisco, she is getting to know her new home of Oakland. A member of Rabble Collective, she has been granted residencies at Storyknife, Ragdale, and Hedgebrook, among others.

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