Heaven by Cathy Song
"Heaven" by Cathy Song is a contemplative poem found towards the conclusion of her collection "Frameless Windows, Squares of Light." In this work, Song examines themes of identity, ethnicity, and the concept of return through the innocent perspective of her young son, who associates death with a journey to China, prompting her reflections on her own heritage. The poem juxtaposes the child's naive vision of a "Chinese heaven" with the historical context of Asian migration to America, invoking a sense of longing and belonging that resonates across generations.
Song's exploration of these themes reveals the complexities of American identity, particularly for Asian Americans, and questions the possibility of separating one's ethnic background from the broader American experience. The poet acknowledges that the notion of returning to one’s roots is ingrained in the familial lineage, suggesting that this connection to heritage shapes their understanding of home. "Heaven" stands out as a forward-looking piece, as it not only reflects on past experiences but also engages with the implications for future generations. By addressing these topics, Song contributes to a broader dialogue within American literature about the intersection of ethnicity and identity, marking a significant evolution in the narrative of Asian American writers.
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Heaven by Cathy Song
Excerpted from an article in Magill’s Survey of American Literature, Revised Edition
First published: 1988 (collected in Frameless Windows, Squares of Light, 1988)
Type of work: Poem
The Work
“Heaven” appears toward the end of Frameless Windows, Squares of Light. By this time, the poet has already married and is the mother of a son and a daughter. The son, who has blond hair (which comes from his father), “thinks when we die we’ll go to China,” causing the mother to pause at the thought of “a Chinese heaven.” The poet further imagines how her son’s hand “must span like a bridge/ to reach it.” She continues to wonder how such an idea could occur to her son, as she herself has never seen China. As the question of identity and ethnicity is pressed, the poet’s thoughts are rerouted to a historical time when a boy in southern China started his long journey to the United States to make a living at the gold mines and the railroad, indefinitely prolonging his stay. Switching back to the present, the poet muses that “It must be in the blood,/ this notion of returning./ It skipped two generations, lay fallow,/ the garden an unmarked grave.” This realization, triggered by the innocent thoughts of a child, leads the poet to call to the children to look to where “we can see the mountains/ shimmering blue above the air.”
Although one of the themes in “Heaven” is innocence, this poem obviously contradicts Song’s earlier statement that she would try not to write on the Asian American theme. Her observation that “it must be in the blood” can be seen as a bold correction of that earlier declaration. The question of returning to China is a symbolic rather than a practical concern, especially after an entire generation of Asian American writers has worked furiously to establish the legitimacy of Asian Americans as Americans. Yet the poem raises a fundamental issue about the nature of Song’s poetry in particular and American literature in general: To what extent is it possible, or desirable, to purge the American experience of ethnicity? Song’s return to this issue is an important signal because, unlike her earlier, mostly retrospective treatments of the Asian American experience, “Heaven” involves a future generation and is forward-looking. The fact that Song can raise such a controversial issue at all intimates the arrival of another stage in the Asian American writer’s search for identity.
Bibliography
Chang, Juliana. “Reading Asian American Poetry.” MELUS 21, no. 1 (Spring, 1996): 81-98.
Chun, Gary. “Poet Sings of Journey of Life.” Honolulu Star-Bulletin, January 11, 2002.
Cobb, Nora Okja. “Artistic and Cultural Mothering in the Poetics of Cathy Song.” In New Visions in Asian American Studies: Diversity, Community, Power, edited by Franklin Ng et al. Pullman: Washington State University Press, 1994.
Fujita-Sato, Gayle K. “’Third World’ as Place and Paradigm in Cathy Song’s Picture Bride.” MELUS 15, no. 1 (Spring, 1988): 49-72.
Hugo, Richard. Foreword to Picture Bride, by Cathy Song. New Haven, Conn.: Yale University Press, 1983.
Lim, Shirley. Review of Picture Bride, by Cathy Song. MELUS 10, no. 3 (Fall, 1983): 95-99.
Song, Cathy. “Cathy’s Song: Interview with Cathy Song.” Interview by David Choo. Honolulu Weekly 4 (June 15, 1994): 6-8.
Song, Cathy, and Juliet S. Kono. Introduction to Sister Stew: Fiction and Poetry by Women. Honolulu: Bamboo Ridge Press, 1991.
Sumida, Stephen. And the View from the Shore: Literary Traditions of Hawaii. Seattle: University of Washington Press, 1991.
Wallace, Patricia. “Divided Loyalties: Literal and Literary in the Poetry of Lorna Dee Cervantes, Cathy Song, and Rita Dove.” MELUS 18, no. 3 (Fall, 1993): 3-19.
Zhou, Xiaojing. “Intercultural Strategies in Asian American Poetry.” In Re-placing America: Conversations and Contestations, edited by Ruth Hsu et al. Honolulu: University of Hawaii Press, 2000.