Post #392349 by Chinarose on Tue, Jul 8, 2008 12:46 AM

I have this childhood memory of my grandparents taking me to a recital of Don Blanding's poetry when I was about 10 years old. My grandparents lived their retirement in Hawaii, and I would usually spend several weeks of my summer vacations with them. Anyway, I remember listening to the poetry reading and wondering how it could be so boring and racist and so unintentionally hilarious at the same time. Everyone listened, smiling in respectful silence, as I looked around at the other guests to see if anyone else besides me was reacting to words like "slant-eyed chink". Now, I think I can appreciate this poetry with a sense of irony, but it seems like fans of Blanding's poetry really enjoyed it at face value. I think Blanding was going for some sort of romantic whimsy, but it just seemed childish to me. Is he truly some sort of revered artist to Hawaiians? Or just to the haoles? Or was it a generation gap that I couldn't appreciate it?

[ Edited by: Bora Boris - Changed Title. - 2012-10-14 07:30 ]