Birthmark

In Jon Pinedas debut collection Birthmark, loss takes the shape of a scar, memory the shape of a childhood, and identity the shape of a birthmark on a lovers thigh. Like water taking the form of its container, Pinedas poems swell to fill the lines of his experiences. Against the backdrop of Tidewater, Virginias crabs and cicadas, Pineda invokes his mestizothe Tagalog word for being half Filipinochildhood, weaving laments for a tenuous paternal relationship and the loss of a sibling. Channeling these fragmented memories into a new discovery of self, Birthmark reclaims an identity, delicate yet unrelenting, with plaintive tones marked equally by pain, reflection, and redemption.