Nothing

Looking through the glass 

the rain pouring so slowly

 Drowning in sorrow 

…

Is tomorrow gone?

no stars no dreams nothing seen

now where do I go?

Dear friend, 

I wanted to take on a haiku and the poem I chose to imitate was from you in the Anthology of Wartime Haiku, into to poetry it goes, 

“From the window of despair 

May sky

there is always tomorrow 

…

At daybreak 

stars disappear

where do I discard my dreams?” 

Pg100-101. I wanted to encapture almost like a similar style of words for example tomorrow, stars, dreams. I wanted to get the connection between poems by presenting these words in similar tones. I know you were in a really bad place where you wished everything was over and that you could finally go home. I chose to encompass those feelings you might have felt. By choosing my first line to be “looking through the glass” almost like a reflection in your poem of its first line being “From the window of despair”. I wanted to bring forth the imagery of the poem and have a new modern audience see through the window that it is pouring rain outside as maybe you were inside writing your poem. I wanted people to see the true sorrows you may have been through being in an internment camp and the pain it caused you to try and live on. Even though you had said it was a May sky meaning it was in May at the end of Spring and beginning of Summer I wanted to bring a counterpart of myself into it. How whenever I am going through a tough time it is usually when it’s raining. The rain just symbolizes for me the dreadfulness and freedom to cry, with my cries being muffled by the rain. I hope this is alright for you and you don’t see it drift much apart from your poem. In my second stanza just like you had written “Where do I discard my dreams?” I wrote “Now where do I go?”, I wanted to say that you were the dreams and now were deciding what to do. 

I wanted to show the power of alliteration I know as a fellow friend you would love from your writing skill level. I chose to input this to symbolize the word no and nothing in stanza 2 line 2. With alliteration I could help display your work on one line instead of multiple. This helps in bringing rhythm and the importance that there is nothing surrounding this poem. There is an abyss of nothing, and it is the speaker’s choice to see where maybe they can go.

I know you like free-style haiku and from the last lines from the stanzas you would end that would be 7 syllables instead of 5 in retrospect, a traditional haiku ending and starting with 5 syllable lines and in the middle being 7 syllables. I tried to form a nice sounding rhythm to your poem to intrigue an audience to go on a poetic rhythm as they continue reading on. I wanted to fight your notion and capture the traditional haiku to show you that it also could work with your poem and what you are trying to say about being boxed in and not being able to live your life freely. From being on one side of the window and watching the world pass by as you sit and write poetry to show what had happened during World War 2. 

My dear friend people are drifting apart from history so I wanted to make this poem to pay homage to your poem. It deserves to be read and analyzed by poets throughout. I thank you for writing something so deep and emotionally beautiful. That is why I made this to show people today the dreams that were crushed, the pain and abuse you had gone through, and most importantly the historical aspect of when you wrote this. Today, there is something similar as to when you were in the camps. It is a war. A war on Gaza and the Palestine people. How they now have to leave their homes just like you did or they would face death. Even today they are still facing it and don’t know whether they can get it tomorrow. My dear friend this is why I wrote this homage poem, to have these people who are oppressed know they are not alone and that we the people see them. Like how we saw you guys we will not remain silent. 

          With deep love and understanding your friend,

    Kelly Flores

Look Around Sonora County

Driving through white snow,

As snowflakes flew gracefully,

Through the coast redwoods.

…

Summer heat has died,

Black, eight-legged Critters emerge,

As Autumn awakes.

…

Sunset Fully Sets,

As night creeps in, an owl hoots,

Calling predators.

…

Rich with history,

A California Ghost Town,

In grassy foothills.

…

Beyond the small towns,

There is a whole new world,

Of nature’s wonders.

Review: Instead of creating one haiku, I created an anthology based on observations and real-life experiences I had exploring Sonora County. These selected pieces were inspired by the multiple haikus Japanese Americans wrote during their stay at the Japanese internment camps. They mostly utilized poetic elements like imagery and nature to describe their personal situations and observations. I followed an identical approach to write my haikus.

Unlike, their haikus though, in which the majority were free verse in English, I decided to follow the traditional format which is 5 syllables for the first and last line and 7 syllables for the middle because I thought it was simpler. Though experiences are different between the poets and me, the use of imagery, setting, and nature is highly implemented on both sides. For example “white snow” (Poem 1, line 1), “Snowflakes flew”(Poem 1, line 2), “Summer heat” (Poem 2, line 1), “autumn”(Poem 2,3), “sunset fully sets” (Poem 3, Line 1), “Nights creeps in” (Poem 3, Line, “Small towns” (Poem 5, line 1), “grassy foothills” (Poem 4, line 3). Similar descriptions and details were given to describe seasons, weather, and surroundings in the Anthology of Wartime Haiku. Like in Kyotaro Komur’s “Lingering summer heat, Japanese proceeding under guard, on dusty white road.” (Komur, Pg 109) and Shiho Okamoto’s “Iron Fence immovable, over the mountain, winter sunrise.” (Okamoto, Pg 112). What makes my anthology connect with the Anthology of Wartime Haikus is both take place in the state of California. Also, the places I described are historical landmarks, meaning just like the Japanese internment camps, these “small towns” hold their own history. For example, “Rich with history, A California Ghost Town, In grassy foothills.” (poem 4) Up in Sonora there are various towns like Columbia, Twain Harte, Mariposa, Jamestown, etc. One of these towns is the Chinese Camp which is practically a ghost town. What’s its history? According to the California Office of Historic Preservation, the Chinese camp was the headquarters for stage lines in the early 1850s and for various CA Chinese mining companies. This was during the gold rush. This is why I added, “Rich with history” to hint at the gold rush. The other small towns were part of the gold rush too. It was a small input but, it holds great significance to California’s history, just like the Japanese internment camps.

Japanese American poets described major features that highlighted back towards Japanese internment camps like Yotenchi Agari’s haiku, “Moonlit summer sky/ same black houses/ standing in rows,” (Agari, Pg 111). I was going to familiar structure for my haikus. Like Agari, I highlighted significant features my main idea was known for like, “Driving through white snow, As snowflakes flew gracefully, Through the coast redwoods.”  (Poem 1). During the winter season, it is likely to snow up in Sonora. One of the most significant attributes of Sonora is the coast redwood trees. Readers may not pick up that I’m talking about specifically Sonora because snow and coast redwoods aren’t just located in that area, however from relying on vivid imagery I am attempting to create an image in their head of what I saw when I was there.

 This is the same with American Japanese poets, they created a visual of their experience, even if the readers had little knowledge about the internment camps, with the use of imagery, readers managed to see and imagine what these poets lived through at the time. I wanted to recreate that feeling for my readers. I could have been more direct in naming the small towns, but I also wanted my readers to build their own visual picture of what I was referring to. I believed that if I mentioned names like “Mariposa” or “Twain Harte”, most readers would easily get the idea and automatically imagine the exact town, pushing away the visual context I provided in my poem. In other words, I wanted head gears to turn. I wanted my readers to think, not just to quickly come up with the answers like “Oh it’s Twain Harte”. I was seeking to write something simple but not too straightforward. Something similar to Yotenchi Agari’s second haiku on page 111. The poem was centered on the Stockton Assembly Center, however Agari didn’t mention the name directly in the poem but indicated it with imagery. I was inspired to follow a similar poem structure because I wanted to ensure readers saw what my haikus described, but also not make it too obvious.

Aside from the first haiku what about the rest? “Summer heat has died, Black, eight-legged Critters emerge, As Autumn awakes.” (Poem 2). This haiku was quite specific in the aspect that I mentioned seasons and black, eight-legged critters. The reason why I added “eight-legged”, was because in Mariposa there is a time when spiders appear, instead of saying spiders though I wanted my readers to envision what I meant and what specific creature I was talking about. I am not talking about just any spider; I was referring to a black tarantula. Why a tarantula? Driving to Mariposa I came across tarantulas crawling on the floor and across the streets and I thought it was one of the most memorable moments I had traveling to Sonora because I had never seen it before. Down here in Merced, it’s unlikely you see a spider casually cross the road, especially a black tarantula. So not only did I rely on identical literary techniques that Japanese-American poets used to describe their situations in the Japanese internment camps, but I also included distinctive moments I had. Though they were quite the opposite compared to the experiences internees had during their stay at internment camps, the haikus were based on experiences that were considered one of the most striking or persistent in one’s mind whether it was good or bad.

What about the use of season and time? With the seasons mentioned, readers get the idea that I have visited Sonora multiple times throughout the year, whether it was winter, summer, or autumn. I purposefully made that clear because I believe if I didn’t my haikus would be incomplete because the reason I went to Sonora was due to the time of season. I also included how I observed beyond the little towns in my 3^rd and 5^th poems.

 I added, “Sunset Fully Sets, As night creeps in, an owl hoots, Calling predators.” (Poem 3). During the night, in Sonora, it’s likely predators like wolves and coyotes show up. What’s interesting is they start to appear right when the sun begins to set, it happens fast. This was something that I observed. I wasn’t specific with what type of predators; however, this allows readers to come up with their own guesses and work their imagination. The fifth poem was quite broad in the aspect that when I said “small towns” it can be taken to context that it can be any small town. However, putting my title as “Look around Sonora County” gives an indication that it’s a town in Sonora. I didn’t want my readers to overthink my poems either, so that’s why I made sure to make my title specific. This is what I noticed the internees did, even when their haikus had no titles, they relied on imagery to stay specific on their main idea.  

Overall, my main focus was to have readers make up a realistic image through their minds by only depending on the imagery and multiple adjectives I provided. I created my anthology relying on the poetic elements Japanese American haiku poets used in their collection of poems. I also included historical context and explained how my observations not only were important to me but also how these observations held a great significance and impact on California’s history itself, just like the Japanese Internment camps did to these Japanese American Haiku poets.

Claudia Dominguez

Citations: Parks, California State. “California State Parks.” CA State Parks, ohp.parks.ca.gov/ListedResources/Detail/423#:~:text=Reportedly%20founded%20about%201849%20by,several%20California%20Chinese%20mining%20companies. Accessed 2 May 2024. 

love lost, Hope found

By: Tierney Bowden

---

ice beneath sharp blades,

yet never did it waver.

eyes meet suddenly.

---

first meeting, cold rain,

heated cheeks, burning passion-

lips do what hands do

---

chilling droplets

met their demise against

passionate activities

---

over time, the distance

grew.

weeks passed.

skies turned from grey

to a deep blue.

---

traded rain for perfect sun

yet hearts were never full enough-

lovelorn.

---

while meadows filled with rabid bloom,

angst became her.

nothing but hatred.

---

suddenly,

a dandelion grew!

budding blossoms

bid woes, adieu!

---

Review:

My poems are an anthology of haikus that reflect a past relationship of mine. I was highly inspired by the haikus from “There is Always Tomorrow: An Anthology of Wartime Haiku” that we read in class. Haikus typically have 17 syllables, mention some reference to a season, and are very concise in their wording. This forces poets who choose this style to be very picky with what they choose to write. Despite this, haikus still evoke powerful emotions.

The wartime haikus were written by Japanese American internment camp victims of the Central Valley. Being from the Central Valley, these haikus struck something inside of me. These poets created their own hope through the power of haiku. They reflected, ranted, and yearned all in a few short phrases. Although I cannot relate to their struggles, I can relate to the feeling of being a human trying to cope. This is where I got inspired.

I wanted my anthology to reflect the feeling of hopelessness that comes with a failed relationship. My haikus are meant to be read from top to bottom since it is a story with a beginning, middle, and end. I chose to keep with the 17-syllable and seasonal word rules because these are not meant to simply be poems, but haikus. Just like how the wartime haikus included a word to reflect the blazing Central Valley summers, mine travel between the seasons of winter and spring.

Along with the wartime haiku inspiration, I also was inspired by Julia Alvarez’s “Sometimes the Words Are So Close”. In her poem, she took lines from other poems to Frankenstein them into a new one. I did something similar in my second haiku. The line “lips do what hands do” comes directly from Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet. This is one of my favorite scenes from the play because it is the perfect embodiment of young love. My anthology is about the first relationship I ever experienced and it was a rushed affair. The inclusion of this line was meant to reflect my naivety and youth when I began the relationship. It also is a foreshadowing of the tragic ending of the story. Just like Romeo and Juliet, I did not end up with this person.

I believe the haiku format and Alvarez’s poem-mashing created the perfect outlet for me to reflect on the relationship and the feelings I felt throughout the experience. In a way, this was a very therapeutic assignment and these poems mean a lot to me. I hope others can find themselves in this anthology, even if it is only one other person.

Blog Post competition

Based on the three student blog posts hyperlinked below, answer the following question and explain your answer (3-4 sentences) in the comment box of your chosen blog post.

Which of the three blog posts offers the most persuasive and original interpretation?

1.Edmund F.  https://poetryintroduction.wordpress.com/2024/02/29/haiku-poetry-japanese-americans-edmund-f/

Neihi Ozawa, “From the window of despair” (page 100)

2. Kelly https://poetryintroduction.wordpress.com/2024/02/29/demise-in-the-morning/

Okamoto, “In the sage brush” (page 113)

3. Isaak Puth https://poetryintroduction.wordpress.com/2024/02/28/fresh-growth-amongst-death/

     Agari, “Fall” (page 111)

Letter Writing Day

The Japanese-American internment camps made a huge impact for the Japanese because they lost their homes, all belongings, and their jobs. Forcing to be in these camps so the American government can keep an eye on them during WWII. They were provided homes and were able to build a community out of it. There were schools, farms, and haiku groups. Many of the people wrote haikus during the war and these showed a lot of experiences they were going through by being in these camps. 

Even though they had no choice, but to stay in these camps, they were still able to communicate with their families outside of the camps by writing letters, which were still monitored by the military. You had to be careful with what you would say because this opportunity to speak with families wasn’t always given to them. 

After going through many of the haiku poems, I’ve chosen a haiku by Kyotaro (Shoichi) Komuro:
Letter writing day

As if hottest day

Had been chosen

The haiku Komuro wrote captured this experience. He first states the situation: “letter writing day.” He goes into saying how anxious and worrying this day is by calling it the hottest day. “Had been chosen” means that this day has come and given to them. As I said before, this opportunity is rare for them because of the war. The American government had a hard time trusting the Japanese-Americans, thinking they were helping the Japanese who were at war with the US. This day was a once-in-a-lifetime experience because it’s rarely given to the Japanese-Americans. So they had to be wise with what they say in case they can’t ever communicate with their families again. Komuro was able to capture what the Japanese Americans had to go through while being in these camps by focusing on the “letter writing day,” which was rarely given to them.

Gurranvir Kaur

A View from the Ground

The poem I chose is by Kyotaro (Shoichi) Komuro and the translation reads as follows:

Passed guard tower
without glancing up
before summer daybreak

This poem stood out to me because of the story that was created within these short lines. In line 1, the speaker sets the situation. From the context, I know this is an internment camp but even without context the words invoke the image of some sort of prison; prisons have guard towers. The second line sets the tone of the poem, which is fearful. The speaker does not even want to glance at the guard in the tower. The only reason this could be is fear of what the guard in the tower might do to lock eyes with the speaker. There is an unbalanced power dynamic that has been established both physically and symbolically. Towers are tall structures and the guard would be at the top of that structure. If the speaker passes this structure, they would be on the ground. This situation is confirmed by the phrase “glanced up” in line 2. So, we have the physicality of one person higher and one lower. This is also symbolic of the actual power dynamics within the internment camps. Japanese-Americans were at the mercy of the American government and any officers working at the internment camps. Those officers/guards held all the power. The poem’s final line sets the season that the poem was written in, summer. Knowing that the poem was written in the Stockton internment camp and how small the apartments were, it would’ve been an uncomfortably, hot summer. This line also lets the reader know that the speaker and all others in the internment camps were under watch 24 hours a day. Daybreak is another way to say sunrise, so the guard was on duty during the earliest hours of the morning.

Through this short poem, Komuro skillfully expresses the power dynamic held between the Japanese-Americans and the internment camp guards. Through imagery and symbolism, he captures a snapshot of the daily life enforced on the Japanese-American internees in the Central Valley.

By: Tierney Bowden

Standing Tall in the Face of Gloom

Alondra Garcia

Firm buds will open

when the day comes

looking up at the trees

This is the haiku I have chosen towards the end on page (105), due to the hopeful take it has. The author is Reiko Gomyo, born in Japan, and as mentioned in her short biography much of her work was published prior to the war. My stances on when this particular poem was published is leaning towards during the war due to the fact on the specific words chosen for the poem. As seen within the second video presented to us, it explains that there are key words within the poem that suggest as to the time period, more specifically the season, in which the poems are written/ take place. In this case we see that the time frame roughly indicates that spring is coming, so perhaps it is still winter, though more towards the end of it. The shift being made here really brings out that darkness that currently resides within the internment camp, how days there are saddening and gloomy. But upon the coming of spring and how this season brings forward, not only the blossoming of the flowers, but also brings along hope. As mentioned “looking up at the trees” the imagery shows that good days to look forward to are coming, kind of telling the people to stand tall that this is something they can overcome. The usage of the word firm further reinforces this notion on how they should keep up their will and strength as they have so far. With everything they have endured up to this point, there is a bright side to things coming their way and when the day comes “buds will open” probably referring to them being freed and returning to their old lives or at least outside of the internment camp. 

Gomyo, as mentioned has a serene way with words and poetry that sound “elegant and sparkling” as executed through this poem and the way her imagery showcases both how there is a darkness, yes, but the light at the end of the tunnel is coming.

Demise in the Morning

In the 1940s there was the force of taking Japanese people away from their homes and moving them to internment camps. While in these camps there were people who would write their daily lives or how they felt, in haiku form. Shiho Okamoto was one of these people who were told to move otherwise their lives were at risk. We can see this happen in the haiku he had written, which shows us the depictions of death vividly in our heads. Okamoto uses diction and repetition to emphasize sounds of the haiku and the clear scene of the death of two brethren who’s deathbeds were presented in the morning.

It was an ordinary day for Okamoto at the internment camp until two new sick people came in and he captured their after moments.

“In the sage brush,

two new earth mounds

torrid wind blows”

By using the word “new” in his haiku we can see that this wasn’t uncommon. That death was something that reeked in this internment camp and that now they are one with nature. “New” in this haiku shows us that there may be other bodies under other sage bushes spread around the camp and more excuses to come from the officers in charge of the people. It also shows emphasis on how they would see these graves were connected to some form of nature, that maybe even after their death they can be treated like any other living being. The word earth is being played at where the two newcomers are now reconnected to their birth of being one with the world. This shows us that even though Okamoto saw these actions take place he still hung onto his roots of being Japanese by writing about them to remember them. Not for why they died but from how they died of the cruelty of the world surrounding it. He is going to be a connecter for others and tell their stories so they can both connect with one another and show the struggles of the time they are in.

What do you think when you say “sss”? I think it almost sounds like the bullet sounds when it finishes firing. I believe Okamoto played on this to show the vivid sound the two have lost their lives to and how this was a common sound surrounding the camp. This gives a sense of sound in the haiku of how war and violence were a huge influence in their lives. The life they once had was over and if that wasn’t brushed upon, they would be gone with the wind, like it is still there warmly waiting for their welcome. Torrid is another key word in this work since it tells us that the wind surrounding the two brethren being shot is hot and dry. Where it shows clear violence was behind these deaths and how there may still be more deaths following this case. 

Shiho Okamoto expresses sincere sorry for the two brethren who have fallen into their demise at the hands of war and was a witness who in a sense was seen to be next to be one with the Earth. By playing with diction and clear audible and sensory details, Okamoto could show us the scene he had to witness almost on a bright morning day in the internment camps. Sharing that if maybe he got severely sick his mound would be next.

Kelly Flores

The Desire for Freedom

“ Moonlit summer sky

same black houses

standing in rows”

– Yotenshi Agari

The poet, Yotenshi Agari, wrote a poem that caught my attention. I initially read the biography and found it very intriguing. When reading this poem I learned a lot about the life at the internment camp in Stockton Assembly Center. I felt that even though there weren’t many words physically on the paper, the haiku painted a picture using a thousand words. 

The imagery used throughout the haiku creates a horrendous image of how they had no freedom. “Moonlit summer sky”, provides the readers with a timeline of when this was written as well as “moonlit” can be seen as a glimpse of hope. This specific scene appears to take place during the nighttime and in the summer as if he is star gazing. The moonlight can also suggest a sense of warmth and peacefulness, potentially dreaming of what freedom would be. When I heard “same black houses” I thought of the color black and it can mean multiple things such as death, mourning, and darkness. I looked up the definition of black and I found that it means “lacking hue and brightness; absorbing light without reflecting any of the rays.”. The juxtaposition of “black houses” against the “moonlit summer sky” creates a visual contrast and emphasizes the visibility of the houses in the moonlight. “Standing in rows” adds a sense of order and structure to the scene, this can also imply how organized everything is. I also noticed that the mention of the houses can add a sense of order, structure, and organization. 

There appears to be repetition by using the word “same” twice which can suggest a lack of individuality or uniqueness throughout the houses. Essentially stating that the houses are all bland and the same as one another, it also draws attention to the uniformity going on. The haiku focuses a lot on the imagery as well as the want for freedom. 

-Yue Wu-Jamison

Conflicting emotions

From the window of despair

May Sky

There is always tomorrow

The imagery invoked in the haiku poem captures the differing emotions Japanese Americans felt while in internment camps. ‘From the window of despair’ evokes feelings of hopelessness. An emotion Japanese Americans surely felt as they did not know how long they would be in internment camps. Each day would bleed into the next, with seemingly no end in sight. The speaker looks out the window at the ‘May sky’. Traditional Haiku poems indicate a season, so this poem takes place during spring; A time known for its long days, warm weather, and blossoming flowers. The beauty of spring contrasts the feeling of despair. The speaker is indoors, feeling hopeless, yet there is beauty just beyond their window. So close, but out of reach. This could reflect how Japanese Americans were in close proximity to the outside world. Just beyond the barbed wire fence, that surrounded them for three years, was freedom. The final line, “There is always tomorrow” causes a shift in tone. Feelings of despair melds into feelings of optimism and hope. It might reflect Japanese Americans dreams of one day being free. But this line could also be interpreted as the speaker allowing themself to feel sad in that moment, and to try to feel better some other day. It is an acceptance of one’s feelings. Even if they are negative emotions. This too could reflect Japanese Americans in internment camps, who likely at times, just wanted to feel sadness and anger. Their lives were by no means easy, and so it would be hard for them to see the good in such a bad situation. 

Bella Cortez