Antistrophe: Holy Hai Bun

Antistrophe uses a Japanese haibun style, with haikus written within and beside the prose text. It is arranged to mimic the text of a Bible, with the main narrative in the center alongside marginal notes (haikus) and footnotes (author commentary). The story follows the author's father after the death of his brother from hiv-related illness in 1997, and the father's inability to grieve within a church that cast his brother as a sinner. The narrative catalogs the father's spiral into alcoholism, infidelity, and divorce, as well as his movement from Portland to Las Vegas to South Korea and to the United Arab Emirates. This narrative is interrupted by a chapter about the author's mother confronting the trauma from her marriage as she visits Portland to deliver a conference speech, told through poetic styles of rhyme royal, sonnet, and ode.