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The Honolulu Advertiser
Posted on: Sunday, November 23, 2003

'Mixed Plate' a reflection of a well-versed poet

"MIXED PLATE: new and selected poems" by Faye Kicknosway; Wes-leyan University Press, paper, $18.95

By Wanda Adams
Advertiser Books Editor

Faye Kicknosway is among a select group of writers who live in Hawai'i, are well-known within the literary community, and otherwise are all but invisible here while earning kudos elsewhere. Kicknosway, known to her students at the University of Hawai'i-Manoa as Morgan Blair, has written 11 poetry collections, one of which was short-listed for the Pulitzer Prize, and is an illustrator as well.

A feminist writer who has mentored many local writers, most famously Lois-Ann Yamanaka early in her writing career, Kicknosway/Blair in this book brings together 25 years of verse as well as intriguing line drawings.

The poems range widely in locale, in style and in theme. They present the reader with powerful and often puzzling images, and challenge your understanding.