Becoming Ghost - Cathy Linh Che

Category: Adults, Poetry
Language: English
Keywords: Refugees

Written by Cathy Linh Che
Read by Cathy Linh Che
Format: MP3
Bitrate: 128 Kbps
Unabridged

The follow-up to her acclaimed poetry debut Split, Becoming Ghost documents Cathy Linh Che’s parents’ experiences as refugees who escaped the Vietnam War and then were cast as extras in Francis Ford Coppola’s film Apocalypse Now, placing them at the margins of their own story. The poetry collection uses persona, speculation, and the golden shovel form as a means of moving Vietnamese voices from the periphery to the center. The speaker’s disownment raises questions about the challenges of using parents as poetic subjects, telling familial stories to a broader public, and the meaning of forgiveness.

Length: 1 hr and 22 mins
Release date: 04-29-25