Father Tongue

It's been said that we can "reclaim truth from the lies of poetry." Father Tongue>/em> uses the language of poetry to bridge the chasm between two cultures, two worlds separated by barriers of language, tradition, geography, history, and very different ways of viewing the world. Through poetry, the author has chosen to record, preserve, and ultimately construct her narrative. The two worlds of the book - the dream-like landscape of far away India, and the concrete reality of the West Coast - are depicted in poems that merge verse with elements of prose and scripting, a method that serves to echo Father Tongue's themes of disconnectedness and cultural blending.

"Lagah's poems are beautiful, lucid stepping stones through the rivers of imagination that surround her south Asian heritage. This is not a bridge between cultures, but a palimpsest: a document of Lagah's own life written between the lines of inherited and witnessed stories of village, family, illness and disappearance - streams that feed a narration that began with her father's tales of a secret garden in India. A unique, inclusive journey through the world of emigration, difference and adaptation, written with exceptional clarity." - Marilyn Bowering