Craig Carpenter : After Roy

 

 

Your poem/s
Cannot be found
Lost in the annals
Of a digital archive
Broken links
Take me to paywalls
Now
You have left us
With these places to visit
With only
Vague snippets
Of your work
That may have been so
Much more
Could I find it
Now I will write for you
This
Shortened line
Breaking things down
The whiteness
Down the white
Page
The white
Fingers reaching out for
The red and yellow
The redress and reparations
They said sorry
For that too
The Japanese internment camps   in the 80s
When we were feathering our hair
You were reminding us
Of the truth of how
Your parents became Manitoba
Beet farmers
My ancestors were beet farmers
You know I’ve seen photos of their
Fat-as-sausage English beet farmer
Fingers 
Too alongside
Me here
Where the air   cooler
Comes through windows
Fall they found him
Rigor mortis at his typewriter
Not you Roy Miki but the other
Roy Kiyooka   painter and poet
You wrote about
Friend of the TISH they say
Was shit in reverse
Bobby and Daphne now
Still here all the names
nothing now
No thing
Gone
We will all be
Spirits in the cooling air
Soon too   like the leaves
That are turning and
The snow arriving over the mountain
Passes
Palimpsest
Covered in absence
a digital white
Wash of
your poems
I will find a real book
With pages beaten leaves
Pulp and paper for these
Fingers to touch
Now    I will
Find a Roy Miki Poem.

10 Oct. 2024

 

 

 

 

 

Craig Carpenter is a curator of the monthly poetry series snpinktn Speaking. He works developing speech technologies for the critically endangered language of nsyilxcn on syilx territory, the Okanagan valley of British Columbia, where he also works as an editorial advisor for Theytus Books. A former literary editor for poetry magazines such as Out of Service and The Carleton Arts Review, he was a student of the late poet Robert Hogg. His podcast about the TISH collective and Robert Hogg can be found here: https://spokenweb.ca/podcast/episodes/robert-hogg-the-widening-circle-of-return/

Phinder Dulai : In Memory of Roy Miki

 

 

 

Roy Miki’s name is synonymous to the Japanese Redress Movement, The Appropriate Voice Conference in 1992, the Writing Thru Race conference in 1994 and many more events as his life in words and actions inspired and mentored so many not just here on the west coast, but across Turtle Island. Roy was an important teacher for me as he walked his life with grace and certitude. He shared his knowledge and also shared his sense of humour with everyone. I am humbled that Roy took an interest in my writing and ideas, and through his mentorship, he helped me to develop poetry that balanced craft with social justice themes. Over the years while he was teaching at SFU, he was also proactive in his support for emerging writers as he invited young writers like myself to read in his Asian Literature under grad courses a few times at SFU; one memorable experience for me was reading A Letter to the Maru, who’s subject was the story of the arrival of the Komagata Maru in Vancouver in 1914. The letter became part of my third collection of poems titled dream / arteries and the collection was further workshopped with Roy as my faculty teacher at a literary residency at the Banff Centre for the Arts. I am just one person that Roy mentored – there were many, and he made precious time for everyone he touched. Knowing he supported and advocated for so many young authors and emerging scholars demonstrates the special person he was. A who’s who in contemporary BIPOC literature in Canada is a testament to his work and provides a lesson in how one carries themselves in life and advocacy. The value of sharing not just your approach to creative practice but also how to strategically position your social justice themes in an artful way was one of his lessons he imparted. I will miss him deeply but I am heartened in knowing that he lived life and his advocacy for the community he created as part of his practice; this is his legacy.

asiancy (a word) (for r.m.)

 

in form

past

present

reflect before an act

reconcile, reconciliation

repair the broken

blazing a path in the midst of enemies, even your own kind

your feet stationary / parallel perfect

the military precision of a high brick wall looming over you

invisible ink stains, words written over hard red clay

from those who almost spoke to the bricks and mortar

bowed their heads in quiet and turned eastward

their destination, the blurred outline of the unknown

seeking a chip in the concrete 

a moment

where

the crack opens and shifts a little

finding the weak spot, or if not the weak spot

walking the long path around that wall

patience

empathy

seeking

that slight scrape

the sound of the emancipation door

 

[Asiancy is a poem that forms part of the poetry collection dream / arteries published by Talon Books, 2014]

 

 

 

 

 

 

Phinder Dulai is the Surrey-based author of dream/arteries (Talon Books) and two previous books of poetry: Ragas from the Periphery (Arsenal Pulp Press, 1995) and Basmati Brown (Nightwood Editions, 2000). Phinder toured dream / arteries extensively across Canada and USA. His work has appeared in numerous publications. He currently serves as the Poetry Editor for Canadian Literature Journal.

Photograph of Roy Miki provided by Talonbooks.