Rowena Tomaneng wrote in Reference Guide to American Literature that in Mirikitani's first collection, Awake in the River, the poet's "experience of subjugation and racism within her own 'homeland' provided a historical context with which to view other events taking place globally. The trauma of Japanese American internment, the nuclear devastations of both Hiroshima and Nagasaki, and U.S. imperialism in Southeast Asia are painful experiences that have shaped Mirikitani's poetry in Awake in the River. In this first collection, Mirikitani has turned her sense of history into a weapon, an active protest against racist ideology in America. The opening poem, 'For My Father,' reveals the dominant concerns and imagery of the rest of Mirikitani's work." Mirikitani portrays her father as both the hero and the antihero of his children. He denies them the strawberries he has grown because he must sell them to earn money. "This poem is powerful in its depiction of the results of oppression," continued Tomaneng. "Mirikitani contrasts the wealthy white world to the isolated, impoverished, and oppressive world of the Japanese Americans." "Tule Lake" describes the experiences of the Japanese Americans who were interned at the most severe desert camp, and the title poem depicts the struggle for survival in the camps. "Loving from Vietnam to Zimbabwe" includes graphic descriptions of American atrocities in Vietnam.
for my father by janice mirikitani poem
The Totality of Causes: Li-Young Lee and Tina Chang in ConversationIn this interview, Tina Chang speaks to Li-Young Lee about his collection Book of My Nights, as well as his early experiences with language and poetry, his relationship with his father, the weight of absence, the cost of transcendence, and the infinite possibilities of a poem.read more 2ff7e9595c
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