Jeffrey Thomas Leong

An Interview with Poet Brian Komei Dempster

skillful
interweaving of the historical and the personal, which reflects
the way that inherited family legacies are both a burden and a gift for
one to
sort through and integrate. Brian’s story -- and the speaker's quest in
the
book -- is further complicated by his mixed race heritage and upbringing
by a
Japanese American mother and white  father.  - See more at:
http://hyphenmagazine.com/blog/archive/2015/01/interview-poet-brian-kome...
skillful
interweaving of the historical and the personal, which reflects
the way that inherited family legacies are both a burden and a gift for
one to
sort through and integrate. Brian’s story -- and the speaker's quest in
the
book -- is further complicated by his mixed race heritage and upbringing
by a
Japanese American mother and white  father.  - See more at:
http://hyphenmagazine.com/blog/archive/2015/01/interview-poet-brian-kome...
skillful
interweaving of the historical and the personal, which reflects
the way that inherited family legacies are both a burden and a gift for
one to
sort through and integrate. Brian’s story -- and the speaker's quest in
the
book -- is further complicated by his mixed race heritage and upbringing
by a
Japanese American mother and white  father.  - See more at:
http://hyphenmagazine.com/blog/archive/2015/01/interview-poet-brian-kome...

Tensions between the historical and personal are further complicated by Dempster's mixed race heritage in his first book, Topaz.