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ISBN 9780978600914 "A
river, suggests an old Cambodian man in David Oliveira’s rewarding
collection, is a confluence of agitations which people 'hear as
harmony/and mistake for the beautiful speech of water.' It’s an apt
figure for this book—a song of experience from the San Joaquin Valley
to a village outside of Phnom Penh, a life’s movements artfully traced,
troubled and harmonious at once." "David
Oliveira offers the reader a lyrical personal history of the San
Joaquin Valley, of a childhood among roaring semis on the highways,
sweet wine grapes, heat and dust (the neighborhood of Philip Levine and
Larry Levis)—then gradually shifts the background to cityscapes, to Art
& Politics—to settle finally in the Mekong Delta, in Cambodia,
where he now lives: a poet potentate in that far, lush kingdom. In a
voice so self-contained and serene, one is startled by sudden ferocity
and by a constant charged longing for the next stop, the stamped
passport, and finally for the 'home' at the end of each travel story.
David Oliveira gets us there in perfect eloquent time—he gets us,
unerringly, home." "Many
years in the making, A Little Travel Story is a book of fully realized
riches. Rarely will you encounter poems with such a keen sense of
humor—not punch-line humor, but sly, intelligent humor, broad and
accurate in irony and political content. But that is a small part of
the whole. This is work of an accomplished and gifted craftsman, a
collection of poignant and highly realized lyrics that leads a reader
from resonant experience to a suggestion of transcendence. Most
importantly, these are poems of great affection, of great compassion.
Especially in the poems about life in the central valley in California,
Oliveira celebrates our common struggles, cherishes the smallest
particulars, and makes meaning of the past. In a singular music, he
preserves these details and holds them out shining as the emblems to
commemorate, and to hold on to as long as possible, our collective
evanescence."
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