Thousand Star Hotel

Poems from a father, a refugee, an activist resisting the invisibility of the Asian American urban poor.

 

Thousand Star Hotel confronts the silence around racism, police brutality, and the invisibility of the Asian American urban poor.

From "with thanks to Sahra Nguyen for the refugee style slogan":

They give the kids candy to bet.

My daughter loses the first four rounds,
she's a quiet wire as they take her candy away, piece by piece.
When she finally wins, I ask if she wants to play again.
No! she shouts, grabbing her candy, I want to go home!
True refugee style:
take everything you got and run with it.

Bao Phi is a National Poetry Slam finalist.

* Paperback

Bao Phi is a multiple Minnesota Grand Slam poetry champ and National Poetry Slam finalist who has been on HBO's Russell Simmons Presents Def Poetry and whose work was included in the Best American Poetry anthology of 2006. He is the author of Sông I Sing and is currently the Program Director of the Loft Literary Center.