On Earth Beneath Sky

Book excerpt: A collection of poems and short prose by a survivor of the Khmer Rouge genocide in Cambodia in which the author, Chath pierSath, describes in vivid detail his refugee journey, resettlement in America, return to Cambodia, and continuing effort to find meaning and fulfillment in his adopted country of the United States. In rich and revealing detail, the author documents the damage to the Cambodian people by political fanatics and the after-effects in that nation struggling to regain its footing. Through the author's eyes, soul, and mind, we experience the challenge and eventual joys in assimilation as he embraces American freedom, and in the spirit of Walt Whitman he celebrates his life as a gay man, exploring "the body electric" and the ensuing ecstasies and at times despair. This is the voice of the new American who sounds much like the classic newcomer to the U.S., the immigrant "who gets the job done" as sung in "Hamilton." With this book, Chath pierSath adds to the narrative of America as the sum of its diverse people who carry their stories from around the world and through their lives define what it means to be American.