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Nikkei Uncovered: a poetry column
Remembrance
Rey Fukuda Salinas, Greer Nakadegawa-Lee, Noriko Nakada, Kurt Yokoyama-Ikeda, traci kato-kiriyama

Nikkei Uncovered: a poetry column
Bite
Sawako Nakayasu, traci kato-kiriyama
It is a wonderful thing to be able to start the year with weather and words that are crisp, refreshing, new. This is the energy coming forth in prose poetry from Massachusetts based artist, Sawako Nakayasu, and here we are treated to her English and Japanese language versions for two …

Nikkei Uncovered: a poetry column
As we continue...
Christine Kitano, traci kato-kiriyama
What speaks as we continue on, through the generations or through a single moment we need to survive? What does that breath or utterance or silence sound like? In New York-based Professor Christine Kitano’s work that is shared with us here, we are treated to an urgency related to memory …

Nikkei Uncovered: a poetry column
Transformation
Brandon Shimoda, Emily Mitamura, traci kato-kiriyama
Nothing like biting into the palpable words of poets to dig into the transformation that signifies this season. I had a great time reading the work of the writers we feature here this month on Nikkei Uncovered—Colorado-based Brandon Shimoda and Minneapolis-based Emily Mitamura. Lush and sinuous, resilient and expansive—from Emily’s Grub Mother—“…a …

Nikkei Uncovered: a poetry column
Fall
Tamiko Beyer, traci kato-kiriyama
The last time we featured Dorchester, MA-based poet, Tamiko Beyer was Spring of 2017, so thought it would be wonderful to have her back to help us usher in Fall with her wonderful work. The selections, from her book Last Days, have a razor’s edge that I love, each line …

Nikkei Uncovered: a poetry column
Canciones
Doris Moromisato, traci kato-kiriyama
Este mes, nos complace presentar dos poemas en español de la poetisa peruana Doris Moromisato Miasato. Ella es ecologista, feminista y budista y estos dos poemas son hermosas canciones de homenaje, uno para su padre y otro para el famoso artista japonés Hokusai. De los recuerdos evocados a aquellos imaginados, …

Nikkei Uncovered: a poetry column
Owed to Amy
Nina Chan, Miya Iwataki, Kathy Nishimoto Masaoka, Keiko Ikari Miya, traci kato-kiriyama
To borrow from the title of one of this month’s features, the theme for this month is all about paying homage to one of our most beloved writers, Amy Uyematsu. Amy has been writing and teaching for decades and is going through the fight of her life right now—and what …

Nikkei Uncovered: a poetry column
Epicanthus
Hiromi Yoshida, traci kato-kiriyama
As we wish you all a wonderful dive into the heat of summer, I am excited to help celebrate the upcoming release of the Epicanthus poetry chapbook by Bloomington, Indiana-based Hiromi Yoshida. While the book’s title harkens toward a condition of obscured views, Hiromi's writing beautifully cuts right through the …

Nikkei Uncovered: a poetry column
Retracing / Return
Noriko Nakada, Garrett Kurai, traci kato-kiriyama
This month, we feature the lovely words of LA-based poets, Noriko Nakada and Garrett Kurai. I've returned to a practice of penning letters, cards, personal messages to be sent by post or out into the ether for recipients I may never actually meet, and when I read through the words …

Nikkei Uncovered: a poetry column
Dancing in the Clouds
Shō Tanaka, Paulette M. Moreno, traci kato-kiriyama
This month, we have the honor of publishing works by two poets who lent their voices to our second annual reading last week for “Nikkei Uncovered”—Shō Tanaka and Paulette M. Moreno. They both took great care in what and how they delivered their words together as a pairing that we …