SAN FRANCISCO — Janice Mirikitani, a beloved San Francisco poet laureate who together with her husband ran the city’s Glide Memorial Church, which caters to the poor and homeless, has died. She was 80. Mirikitani died suddenly July 29, the church confirmed in a message to supporters who were scheduled to attend a virtual justice […]
A life’s work
July 16, 2020 by Leave a Comment
The Journey Continues By Peter Yamamoto (San Francisco: National Japanese American Historical Society, 271 pp., $10.95, paperback) Peter Kenichi Yamamoto’s book of poetry, “The Journey Continues†(2020), marks the culmination of the life-labor of a poet and activist who dedicated his creative talents and generous spirit toward the betterment of his community and world. Published […]
Classic haiku poems in beautiful dreamscapes
July 18, 2019 by Leave a Comment
MY FIRST BOOK OF HAIKU POEMS Translated by Esperanza Ramirez-Christensen, illustrated by Tracy Gallup (North Clarendon, Vt.: Tuttle Publishing, 2019, 48 pp., $16.99, hardcover) “My First Book of Haiku Poems†introduces children to classic haiku written by Japanese haiku masters such as Basho, Issa and Shiki. Each poem, lyrically translated by Esperanza Ramirez-Christensen, a professor […]
Histories of loss and leaving
January 1, 2019 by Leave a Comment
SKY COUNTRY By Christine Kitano (Rochester, N.Y.: BOA Editions Ltd., 2017, 104 pp., paperback) Ithaca College professor Christine Kitano’s “Sky Country†is a thought-provoking collection of poems that speak to Kitano’s mixed Korean-Japanese background. She organizes her book of poetry thematically into five sections each interwoven with the personal and collective histories of Korean and […]
Seeing through ‘Haiku Eyes’
July 19, 2018 by Leave a Comment
WRITE YOUR OWN HAIKU FOR KIDS: SEE THE WORLD THROUGH “HAIKU EYES†By Patricia Donegan (North Clarendon, Vt.: Tuttle Publishing, 2018, 48 pp., $10.99, hardcover) Poetry has often gotten a bad rap among kids, much to the chagrin of nerdy teacher types like me. I’m always on the lookout for resources to make poetry and […]
Late poet’s grace shines through tragedies
January 1, 2018 by Leave a Comment
ARE YOU AN ECHO? THE LOST POETRY OF MISUZU KANEKO Test and translation by David Jacobson, Sally Ito and Michiko Tsuboi; illustrations by Toshikado Hajiri (Seattle: Chin Music Press, 2016, 64 pp., $19.50, hardcover) This is a sad and lovely story about a young poet and the legacy of her work. A poet named Setsuo […]
Crossing the threshold in ‘The Yellow Door’
January 1, 2016 by Leave a Comment
THE YELLOW DOOR By Amy Uyematsu (Pasadena, Calif.: Red Hen Press, 2015, 112 pp., $15.95, paperback) Journey through a post-war Japanese American landscape with Amy Uyematsu as she defines race, unpacks the family incarceration experience and discovers a confluence with Japanese culture in “The Yellow Door,†her latest book of poetry. The power bursts forth […]
THE GREAT UNKNOWN AND THE UNKNOWN GREAT: The life and writings of hapa poet Ambrose Amadeus Uchiyamada
September 5, 2013 by Leave a Comment
This week’s column traces some of the history of a hapa poet and journalist with the magnificent name Ambrose Amadeus Uchiyamada, who grew up under rather unusual circumstances. His father Thomas Morkiyo Uchiyamada, a university-trained engineer from Japan who came to the United States for further schooling in the first years of the 20th century, […]
Musings from a San Francisco native
January 1, 2013 by Leave a Comment
JOURNEY By Peter Kenichi Yamamoto (San Francisco: self published, 2012, 71 pp., $8.95, paperback) Peter Yamamoto, a longtime member of San Francisco’s Japantown community, is often seen volunteering at the National Japanese American Historical Society. His artistic background from his parents and his roots in social activism including being a resident of the I-Hotel during […]
A lyrical look at the “Japanese Plymouth Rock”
July 26, 2012 by Leave a Comment
STRONG AS SILK: THE STORY OF THE GOLD HILL WAKAMATSU TEA AND SILK COLONY By Brigit Truex (San Pedro, Calif.: Lummox Press, 2012, 138 pp., $18, paperback) “Strong as Silk” is a wonderful summer read and an interesting attempt to stir the imagination of what it must have been like as the historic Wakamatsu Tea […]
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