Sông I Sing

A rhapsodic exploration of immigration, race, and class by Vietnamese American phenom and National Poetry Slam star Bao Phi.

Dynamic and eye-opening, this debut by a National Poetry Slam finalist critiques an America sleepwalking through its days and explores the contradictions of race and class in America.

Publication date: September 20, 2011

Format: Trade Paper

Dimensions: 6 x 9

Page count: 170 pages

ISBN: 9781566892797

Thanks to a 2013 ADA Access Improvement Grant administered by VSA Minnesota for the Metropolitan Regional Arts Council, this title is also formatted for screen readers which make text accessible to the blind and visually impaired. To purchase this title for use with a screen reader please email us at info@coffeehousepress.org.

Bao Phi has been a performance poet since 1991. A two-time Minnesota Grand Slam champion and a National Poetry Slam finalist, he has performed as a featured artist all over the United States, has appeared on HBO Presents Russell Simmons Def Poetry, and a poem of his appeared in the 2006 Best American Poetry anthology. He has been a City Pages and Star Tribune Artist of the Year. He is currently Program Director at the Loft Literary Center, where he started as a receptionist 15 years ago. His first collection of poems, Sông I Sing, was published by Coffee House Press in 2011. His second collection of poems, Thousand Star Hotel, will be published in summer of 2017, also by Coffee House, for which he was selected by Minnesota Monthly as Author of the Year. His first children’s book, to be illustrated by Thi Bui, will be published by Capstone Press in the fall of 2017.

“In this song of his very American self, every poem Mr. Phi writes rhymes with the truth.”

—The New York Times

“Even without [Phi’s] voice, his words are loud in all the right moments, and quiet when they need to be.”

—The Star Tribune

“[Phi's] poems leave no stone unturned and urge us all to do the same.” 

—KCET

“Bao Phi and Ed Bok Lee . . . comprise a local vanguard of Asian American literature, as poetic in their demolishing of stereotypes as they are determined.”

—Minnesota Monthly

“A stunning work of sustained energy and rapturous hunger for acknowledgement, recovery and change, Sông I Sing is essential reading for anyone invested in understanding the changing tropes of current American culture, and for anyone with a keen ear for the rhythms of discontent that appear on the street corners of the American urban landscape and find their way into the heart of the homeland.”

—Phati’tude Literary Magazine

“Phi gives voice to those who live beneath the radar of the American creed, but who have internalized that creed as much as the quotidian racism they endure.”

—The Lantern Review

“Sông I Sing is an honest and raw dialogue about race against an urban backdrop. His poems pulsate off the page with solid rhythm and his passionate, activist voice.”

—City Pages

“Bao Phi’s long-awaited debut collection Sông I Sing brings poetry back to the people like nothing else I’ve seen in Vietnamese American culture.”

—diaCRITICS

“[Phi] is our ecstatic shaman, manifesting through his work the oldest sources of passion, imagination, and cosmic joy. Sông I Sing is a gift. Thank you, Bao Phi.”

—Li-Young Lee

“Sông I Sing will cleanse and free your mind; it is an American original.”

—David Mura

“[Sông I Sing is] gorgeously angry, laugh-out-loud funny and I even teared up a couple of times while reading it.” 

—Guante

“Jagged yet tender, Bao Phi’s poetry mixes rough-edged critiques of racism and imperialism with resolute optimism in the power of love and community.”

—Yen Le Espiritu

“A remarkable debut from a sure and important voice.”

—Jeff Chang

“Anyone curious about how Vietnamese Americans are getting along in America should buy this book. The answer is here.” 

—VVA Veteran