Star-Spangled Banner

The Star-Spangled Banner, Denise Duhamel's sixth book of poems, is about falling in love, American-style, with someone who is not American. In the title poem, a small American girl mishears the first line of "e;The Star-Spangled Banner"e; as "e;Jose, can you see?"e;, which leads her to imagine a foreign lover of an American woman dressed in a star-spangled gown. The misunderstandings caused by language recur throughout the book: contemplating what "e;yes"e; means in different cultures; watching Nickelodeon's "e;Nick at Nite"e; with a husband who grew up in the Philippines and never saw The Patty Duke Show; misreading another poet's title "e;The Difference Between Pepsi and Coke"e; as "e;The Difference Between Pepsi and Pope"e; and concluding that "e;Pepsi is all for premarital sex. / The Pope won't stain your teeth."e; Misunderstandings also abound as characters mingle with others from different classes. In "e;Cockroaches,"e; a father-in-law refers to budget-minded American college students backpacking in Europe as cockroaches, not realizing his daughter-in-law was once, not so long ago, such a student/roach herself. With welcome levity and refreshing irreverence, The Star-Spangled Banner addresses issues of ethnicity, class, and gender in America.