Warm tenderness and fiery critique sit sidebyside in Bolinas English as A Second Language a collection that skewers laments and celebrates America with intelligence humility and a disarming sense of humor.In Jaswinder Bolinaamp8217s English as A Second Language and Other Poems we are asked to imagine the tender and harsh realities of this world within a single breath a Steiff monkey resting next to a child in a crib and the tired hands of a thousand women in Sidi Bouzid assembling the stuffed animal. Coated in an armor of wit and humor and steeped in the idiosyncrasies of language English as a Second Languageamp160pits sentimentality against cynicism and the personal against the national. What remains is the kaleidoscopic image of the modern American condition.From elegy to persona wideranging poems tell the story of a child of immigrants becoming a parent against the tumultuous backdrop of our politics and culture. Where the collection asks amp8220What chance do any of us haveamp8221 the poet finds hope possibility. Bolinaamp8217s musical poems zip across time challenging the fixity of the book. Clues offer the possibility of an alternate reading where backwards a new emotional arc appearsamp8212dreamlike the nostalgic origin story of a sleepdeprived parent tracing a path through language and history. Forwards backwards English as a Second Language skewers laments and celebrates America with intelligence and humility.