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Nikkei Uncovered: a poetry column
Stone Songs
Amy Uyematsu, traci kato-kiriyama
Happy New 2023, everyone! What better way to begin than with the beauty of poetry and prose from Amy Uyematsu and her most recent collection, That Blue Trickster Time (What Books Press). Here, we have three selections from a wise and fiery collection with a life force she breathes through her words of …

Nikkei Uncovered: a poetry column
Expansion
Brynn Saito, traci kato-kiriyama
Poet, educator, and co-founder of Yonsei Memory Project, Brynn Saito brings the Nikkei Uncovered: a poetry column to a close for 2022 with writing that is at turns spare and present, expansive and lush—all the things I crave in poetry at this time of year, when the chill of this …

Nikkei Uncovered: a poetry column
In memoriam...Jim Matsuoka
Jim H. Matsuoka, traci kato-kiriyama
It is with my heaviest, yet most grateful heart that I present this poetic speech from our beloved Jim Matsuoka, who passed on towards the end of October. Jim meant so much to surely countless many and I am simply another person who benefited greatly from his presence in so …

Nikkei Uncovered: a poetry column
Fruits of connection
Nikiko Masumoto, traci kato-kiriyama
Happy autumn, all! This month we feature organic farmer, artist, and Yonsei Memory Project co-founder, Nikiko Masumoto with a delicious set of poetry that reaches us from soil nurtured through the generations and welcomes “city cousins..into a relationship with the land.”

Nikkei Uncovered: a poetry column
An Unstoppable Fluttering
Kelsey Kawana, traci kato-kiriyama
Yonsei entrepreneur and writer Kelsey Kawana was introduced to me by kindred friend and artist Beau Sia, and I was honored to support them both in co-producing an upcoming short film, The Unreachable Star (more in Kelsey’s bio). It was such a delight to later come across her wonderful poetry …

Nikkei Uncovered: a poetry column
Explosión
José Natsuhara, traci kato-kiriyama
Este mes, nuevamente con la ayuda de la mamá de mi pareja (una artista nikkei nacida y criada en Perú), llegué a apreciar este poema por su intensidad, escrito por el poeta nikkei radicado en Lima, Perú, José Natsuhara. Una fuerte imaginería abunda a lo largo de este poema, lleno …

Nikkei Uncovered: a poetry column
Gnawing
W. Todd Kaneko, traci kato-kiriyama
This month’s feature comes to us from Grand Rapids, Michigan, with selections from This Is How the Bone Sings, a poetry collection by Todd Kaneko. These pieces resonated at a gut level for me—they poke and prod, nudge and whack, muse and gnaw at our past through a present lens …

Nikkei Uncovered: a poetry column
Recuerdo y laberintos
Kazuko Kikushima, traci kato-kiriyama
Este mes nos complace presentar a la poetisa y psicóloga peruana Kazuko Kikushima. Una vez más, la madre de mi pareja me ayudó a entender la belleza y profundidad de este poema, una conmovedora pieza que hace un llamado al recuerdo de un ser querido y las cosas que llamamos …

Nikkei Uncovered: a poetry column
Baachan
Shizue Seigel, traci kato-kiriyama
This month, we are happy to present two poems from San Francisco-based writer and visual artist, Shizue Siegel. As the founder/director of Write Now!, Shizue amplifies many voices throughout the Bay Area, and here we are honored to share her voice with pieces about her Baachan. Through this writing, we …

Nikkei Uncovered: a poetry column
Murmurs and Bones
Lee Ann Roripaugh, traci kato-kiriyama
We are honored to present three pieces here from South Dakota State Poet Laureate (2015-2019), Lee Ann Roripaugh. A personal and clanging reflection on the 2011 Tōhoku tsunami and earthquake, these poems are stunning murmurations of memory hitting against bone, of shadows that never quite evaporate, of ghosts alive and …