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 and "The Star-Spangled Banner and " as and "Jose, can you see? and ", 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 and "yes and " means in different cultures; watching Nickelodeon's and "Nick at Nite and " with a husband who grew up in the Philippines and never saw The Patty Duke Show; misreading another poet's title and "The Difference Between Pepsi and Coke and " as and "The Difference Between Pepsi and Pope and " and concluding that and "Pepsi is all for premarital sex. The Pope won't stain your teeth. and " Misunderstandings also abound as characters mingle with others from different classes. In and "Cockroaches, and " 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.