The Scott & Laurie Oki Series in Asian American Studies
From a Three-Cornered World
NEW AND SELECTED POEMS
James Masao Mitsui
University of Washington Press Seattle and London
This book is published with the assistance of a grant from the Scott and Laurie Oki Endowed Fund for the publication of Asian American Studies, established through the generosity of Scott and Laurie Oki.
Copyright © 1997 by James Masao Mitsui
Designed by Audrey Meyer
Cover designed by Glen Mitsui, Studio MD, featuring a photograph of Minoru Mitsui
Calligraphic brush strokes by Tad Wasa
All rights reserved. No portion of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or any information storage or retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publisher.
ISBN 0-295-97598-9 (pbk.)
The paper used in this publication meets the minimum requirements of American National Standard for Information Sciences—Permanence of Paper for Printed Library Materials, ANSI Z39.48-1984.
This is for Lilly,
forever in love.
An artist is a person who lives in the triangle which remains after the angle which we may call common sense has been removed from this four-cornered world.—Natsume Soseki, 1867–1916
Contents
I / from Journal of the Sun 1974
Destination: Tule Lake Relocation Center
Section Hand, Great Northern Railway
Because It Is Close and My Mother Is 72
Nisei: Second-Generation Japanese American
II / from Crossing the Phantom River 1978
When Father Came Home for Lunch
Katori Maru
Holding Center, Tanforan Race Track
Block 18, Tule Lake Relocation Camp
The Table Lamp
Samurai
Surrounded by Autumn
Waterfall at Dusk
Exhibition
Painting by a Mental Patient
Cape Alava
For a Chinese Pheasant
New Lines for Fortune Cookies
For the Ballerina in Death Valley Junction
III / from After the Long Train 1986
The East Watch House
Minoru Mitsui
Because of My Father’s Job
Wooden Flower Vase
Visiting My Mother at Kawabe House
After a Stranger Calls
Letter to Tina Koyama
In Sight of Purple Crocus
IV / Flexing Our Rippling Metaphors
What the Math Teacher Told Jim
Isla Mujeres: My American Sonnet, 1986
Letter to Ransom from Green Lake
The World of Becoming
Closure
In Front of the Geoduck Display
Paris Windows: Some Linked Bantu
Because You Left Three Rocks
Graffiti in a University Restroom
Rationale
V / Cleveland Was Farther Away Than July
Christmas Poem, 1987
Christmas Poem for Lilly
Southwest of Stovepipe Wells
Tohono O’Odham Indian Cemetery
A Birthday Poem for Lilly
Ode to My ’94 Honda Passport
From a Window of Lowell’s Cafe
VI / Painting Sunlight on the Wooden Wall of a House
Getting Ready for Grandparenthood
My Mother Juggling Bean Bags