Tue, May 07
|Collected Works Bookstore & Coffeehouse
Mary Oishi, Sidewalk Cruiseship
Mary Oishi, the “pandemic poet laureate” of Albuquerque, will be in conversation with former Albuquerque Poet Laureate Michelle Otero, whose memoir, "Vessels: A Memoir of Borders" published in 2023.
Date, Time & Location
May 07, 2024, 6:00 PM MDT
Collected Works Bookstore & Coffeehouse, 202 Galisteo St, Santa Fe, NM 87501, USA
About the Event
This will be an in-store event and live streamed to Zoom, register for Zoom here.
Order Sidewalk Cruiseshop (paperback, $18.95) from CW online here or call the store (505) 988-4226 to order. Signed copies will be available after the event.
Written by the “pandemic poet laureate” of Albuquerque, Sidewalk Cruiseship draws on Oishi’s remarkable ability to illustrate the world around her and the people in it. Separated into eleven short sections by traditional Japanese tankas, the poems in Oishi’s newest collection take on the macro and the micro. They respond to the pandemic, the war in Ukraine, and the contentious political climate as they draw readers in to witness intimate moments of people and scenes within Oishi’s beloved city of Albuquerque. The poems explore such themes as mental illness, the joys and sorrows of motherhood, what it is to be a woman in the world, and aging and death. Readers will come away with a better sense of Albuquerque and its inhabitants and will get an intimate look at one of its most passionate citizens—a Japanese American longtime justice activist and mentor for queer youth who embraces the best and worst Albuquerque has to offer. Throughout it all, she reminds us that the best response we can offer is love, even in the face of adversity.
About the Poet
Mary Oishi is the author of Spirit Birds They Told Me, the coauthor of Rock Paper Scissors, and the editor of One Albuquerque, One Hundred Poets. She served as Albuquerque Poet Laureate from 2020 to 2022.