Garrett Kaoru Hongo is an important voice in post-World War II Asian-American literature. He was awarded the 1987 Lamont Poetry Prize by the Academy of American Poets for The River of Heaven (published the following year). However, even though ethnic considerations are constant elements in his work, he is also regarded as a mainstream American poet who speaks for an idealistic generation intent on learning, understanding, and possibly correcting the mistakes of recent history.

Hongo's work is strongly narrative, and he is at his best when telling stories--his own or stories that have been pieced together from bits of family anecdote, written and oral histories, and speculation. There is sometimes a sense of outrage in his work, as in the long poem "Stepchild" in Yellow Light (1982). "Stepchild" describes various painful chapters in the history of Japanese-Americans, including the World War II relocation, the mistreatment of immigrant laborers, and the...