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What they're saying...

"In this vivid, wonderfully empathetic book of poems, Lunch in Chinatown, Mary Bonina is an inquisitive seeker, not only set to teach English but also to learn about the lives of her immigrant students. There's the student who worked with the very ill and the job did not allow wearing jewelry "without that ring on her finger/her hand felt too light, made her think/that she wasn't in the world anymore," another puzzled over the same abbreviation for Saint and Street, a young man recalled his young love in Port au Prince. In her masterful telling Bonina has given us glimpses of their worlds, both before and after the immigration. These poems celebrate the common human language, of disappointments and loss, aspirations and love, and also how poetry and the resolve of students and their teacher can make all the difference in the world."

​— Pui Ying Wong, author of Fanling in October
“Bonina’s chapbook is a gem, a lesson in thoughtfulness, revealing the subtle encounters of an immigrant who is presented as a person instead of a case study…Lunch in Chinatown is a poignant exploration of valued human connections, understanding, and shared humanity in the face of cultural and linguistic differences. Bonina becomes the astute poet who is at once a keen custodian as well as a non-intrusive linguistic ethnographer, opening her professional and yet intimate world through the precise power of poetry.”

— Patrick Sylvain, P.H.D., M.F.A.
Haitian poet, Professor of Global/Transnational/Postcolonial Literature, Author of the recent Unfinished Dreams/Rev San Bout, bilingual Poetry, Lead Author: Education Across Borders, Essays (Beacon Press, 2022)
“It’s a wonderful book and an important one given our often harsh climate toward newcomers.”  
 
​— Ellen Steinbaum, author of Leavings, poetry (forthcoming from Every Other Thursday Press )
“The book is elegant, the cover photograph, the red background, the typeface…I think it will find a wide interest. The powers that be should know about it.”

— Helena Minton, author of Paris Paint Box, Poetry (Loom Press)
“So many of these poems remain in my mind. Two of my favorites, among many others I could name, are “Fashion Sense” and “Drift,” the latter of which I learned is carved into a granite monolith. What an honor…It’s truly a memorable and moving collection.”

— Mary E. Mitchell, author of Starting Out Sideways, A Novel and Love in Complete Sentences, A Novel (St. Martins Press)

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To Purchase

For signed copies, contact the author or attend an upcoming reading (listed below).

​Available also at The Lost Bookshelf, Cervena Barva Press.

Upcoming Scheduled Readings

Date: Wednesday, February 12, 2025
Time: 7-8pm
Location: Norwich Bookstore, 291 Main Street, Norwich, Vermont 05055
Mary reads from Lunch in Chinatown (Cervena Barva Press, 2024), With Kathleen Latham, reading from The Ones (Kelsay Books, 2024).

Date: Wednesday, April 16, 2025
Time: 4:30-5:30pm
Location: Gibson's Books, 45 S Main Street, Concord, New Hampshire
​Sponsored by the Poetry Society of New Hampshire.
​Mary reads from Lunch in Chinatown (Cervena Barva, 2024), with Mark Pawlak, reading from Away/Away (Arrowsmith, 2024)

Date: Thursday, April 17, 2025
Time: 7pm
Location: Roslindale House, 120 Poplar Street, Roslindale, Massachusetts
​Sponsored by Rozzie Reads Series.
Mary reads from Lunch in Chinatown (Cervena Barva, 2024), with Mark Pawlak, reading from Away/Away (Arrowsmith, 2024)