These poems remind me of days like those. I know by no means could my life seemingly compare to the pain and sorrow these people have been through, but if I could imagine their feeling it would be days like those. The days where you could lose your husband, your job, and your kids all at once, and still you would feel nothing because you have to be feeling something to begin with to be impacted by the nothing.
The first sorrow I felt began with Harmony at the Fair Grounds. The lines read, “Lines formed for food// Lines for showers// lines for the john// lines for shots.” Everything needed in life they must wait in line for because they are too imprisoned to have the freedom of not waiting. If they are to wait in line for essentials, what about things deemed non-essential? What must one do for the love of a husband or wife, or child? Is there a line for nurture and love?
I too was intrigued in the Desert Storm poem. I wondered how glamorous, or how at home one must feel with the lines, “This was not// im// prison// ment.// This was// re// location.” I wondered about the hidden meanings inside the lines, what was with the random separations of words? Did they mean for the words prison and location to jump out at me as they did? What did they mean? Were their lives so terrible there that when distinguishing relocation vs imprisonment the difference had to be clarified? Or was there a hint of sarcasm in this author's voice?
Sometimes, I don’t think hope was entirely lost for all. In The Watchtower it was said, “This is what we did with our days.// We loved and we lived// just like people.” What do you know, they are people too, just like the people they are being treated so poorly by. My views on these lines are similar to the P.O.W. poem that says, “My daily routine// of going to the mess hall// has nothing to do with// my appetite.” When saying this I also wonder if they went to the mess hall for the human interaction, or simply because if he fell off routine he would realize how cruel life really was. Maybe going to the mess hall and staying in routine kept his mind away from reality, sadly enough.
I feel so sorry for these writers because I can’t imagine such a world, or at least living in one. I don’t know why at any point in time people should treated less than human because of their heritage. Chinese, Japanese, German, Italian, Scottish, Mexican, African- you are all people to me, no matter how members of the white race has behaved before.
 |
| Will everyone someday be free? And not be addressed, recognized, and stereotyped as say an Jap? Just saying, when does it end? |
 |
| Bring Freedom forward. (I envy this photographer.) |
Jessica: where are your images from? They're interesting! :)
ReplyDeleteI think that it's important to recognize, as you do here, the tragic aspects of Japanese American internment. The policy had devastating effects, and was a severe injustice.
But I think it's equally important to recognize how individual internees and their children, like the artists in your post, are able to respond to the experience through art, poetry, and film. To me, this act allows them to take back some of the power and dignity that was taken from them by internment.
I'm constantly amazed by the ability of creative people to turn tragedy into something socially, philosophically, and aesthetically meaningful. From this perspective, what is absolutely "depressing" can be transformed into something inspiring.
Hi Jessica,
ReplyDeleteYour blog this week is very sentimental. I can feel your sympathy for the Japanese people who suffered from internment camps. You really put yourself in the positions of these people. I agree with you that the sufferings from them are immeasurable. The notion of waiting in a line which you used to compare the state of imprisonment is interesting. They are waiting for their freedom, and waiting to get back what they had. However, I think it is still optimistic to say so. A lot of Japanese people realized they lost everything once they got out of the camp. At least while they stayed inside the camp, they still had hope. They dreamed of what they can do once they get out. But once they got out, they found reality to be much harsher than they could have imagined. Their houses were trashes, they lost their jobs, and they had no more money. Basically, they lost everything and were forced to start from scratch.
Also the general feeling of the Japanese people in the camps around this time includes anger, sadness, stress, confusion, and sarcasm. Therefore, you are right to question about the feeling conveyed in the poem Desert Storm. I think the author intentionally brought up the words “prison” and “relocation” to show his sarcastic opinion about the internment camps. Because in fact, these camps were worse than prisons, so calling these camps “relocation” would be distorting the facts.
Lastly, I just want to comment on the political cartoon on Iraq war. It is interesting because as what I can see from the cartoon, Iraqi people are now becoming bad because they are now allowed to do so according to the new democratic government. Isn’t it funny when all kind of things can happen when people have too much freedom? LOL
Hello Jessica: I see and understand what you are saying about fathoming the sense of loss and trepidation these people could feel. I have had days where I would just rather go back to bed or wish the clock would simply stop spinning so I could grasp the position I am in at a particular moment.
ReplyDeleteI am glad you quoted Dessert Storm. The part where it seems as though the narrator was minimizing and rationalizing the fact he/ she was not imprisoned. That too stuck out to me when I read the poem.
I can tell you set a lot of emotion in when you drafted your blog. As I was reading your blog I was touched with a sense of overwhelming emotion also. Good blog Jessica, thank you for giving me the opportunity to tap into some of my own emotions. Oh, one last thing, I envy the “Freedom” photographer too.
Hello Jessica,
ReplyDeleteI didn’t think of the readings in the ways you expressed via your first paragraph until now (And it makes a lot of sense). The poems evoked so much emotion out of me upon reading them, and I can only imagine how the writers themselves were feeling. I would imagine that the people living during those times felt as though they had a total loss of control over life. As if they were dreaming, and living some alternate reality that they could not wake up from. But for them, they couldn’t just go to sleep (even if they wanted to, they were unable to because every aspect of life was controlled by the wardens and other people), it wasn’t just a bad day. These people experienced so much lose in such a short period of time. Loss of control, loss of family, loss of identity, etc. You stated that they had to wait for everything, even the essentials in life “Lines formed for food/ Line for showers”. I could no imagine having to wait and be given such a set schedule. They had no freedom to choose when to do these things, and on top of that, all they were given were the essentials.
As far as the poem “Desert Storm” goes, I found the line breaks interesting as well. The words seemed to come a live on the page. These lines felt surreal in the poem, as I’d imagine the day where everyone had to “relocate” felt. I think the line breaks are supposed to emphasis those words, and make you stop and really think about them. The words feel haunting, and give one a sense of hearing them for the first time with the author of the poem.