Songbirds of the Nine Rivers

A new book of poetry from Joseph Zaccardi, poet laureate of Marin County, (2013-2015).

In his afterword to SONGBIRDS OF THE NINE RIVERS, Joseph Zaccardi recounts how, during his time as a corpsman in the Vietnam War, he found refuge in a volume of ancient Chinese and Vietnamese poetry. This study, now lifelong, has borne fruit in this present volume. At once a scholarly work, an homage, and a striking volume of new poems of the Tang dynasty of China and the Lê dynasty of Vietnam--the ancients at his shoulder--these poems, not translations, not "versions," provide readers with a multifaceted lens, forward, backward, yet always present--always, even in grief, exultant.