Expressing herself through poetry

Her mother came to the U.S. with a group of picture brides Her father bought her mother American clothes after she arrived from Japan FBI agents came to the house while parents were gone Mother was ordered to speak English during FBI house search Grateful for The Quakers’ help in camp and finding jobs outside of camp Her brother’s reasons as a No-No Boy How Camp Notes was published Expressing herself through poetry Advice to writers

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I have never stopped writing from the time I was quite young. And I think it – I was very shy, you know, child. I think that Asians – many Asian Americans – not able to really express yourself verbally, and so you’re always kind of writing and keeping it within yourself, and I think that that probably has helped a lot. And – and so it kind of surprises people when they read my poetry, because they’re kind of sharp, ironic, sometimes quite pointedly critical, and so forth. They don’t – had no idea that I was harboring these thoughts in my head [laughs].

Date: August 7, 2018
Location: California, US
Interviewer: Sharon Yamato
Contributed by: Watase Media Arts Center, Japanese American National Museum

identity poet poetry