The so-called.... "The Camp".........What if I am the one.....???

First of all, I think those poems are very interesting, they are really different from the poems that I had read before. Not only that I think they are different, but also I can somehow see the connections between these poems and our previous readings. Today, I wanted to play around with some specific poems, either discusses further using my “Asian mind”, or plays a role incorporate with the poems. Moreover, I would also like to link some of the poems to our previous reading, so feel free to join me or criticize them.

I really like Mrs. Yamada’s “Camp notes”, as it vividly describes, explains and criticizes the life and feeling of real Japanese that lives in United States during the World War II. She started with the poem of describing the “evacuation” (Yamada, p.13) scenario. From here, I wanted to put myself in the situation too by supporting the protagonist in the poem. You said “I never packed two bags before” (Yamada, p.13), Me too! I never even expect I would have to package and leave in a rush, I didn’t even have chance to bring all my stuffs, the only picture of my grandmother. I don’t like these reporters, they don’t know exactly how we feel and see, and still asked us to “Smile” (Yamada, p.13), it sounds very sarcastic and I feel disgusted.

I also like “in the Outhouse” (Yamada, p.17) poem, she described a place which everyone would almost use it daily into a cruel place like hell, I really like the part that says “burns my eyes” (Yamada, p.17), we always think that only fire can burns us; however, after reading that part, I realized that a “bloody” place can also burns us, not physically, but at least mentally.

The “Desert Storm” (Yamada, p.20) also attracts me a lot. I can vividly feel the situation that time, just like some parts of “Homebase” which really brought me to that specific period of time. “This was not imprisonment. This was relocation.” (Yamada, p.20), I am part of this land, same as any American here, striving hard to survive, I obey to the law and why should I be treated this way. This is not a place to live, we could have gotten killed at any minute……in this room, under this unstable table, we hide ourselves, we embraced each other tightly and prayed when this severe storm stops, the war could also ends……Yes, we pray from the bottom of our heart and that is the only thing we can do at this time, and that is the only thing that keeps us alive…

One major part that attracts me in the poem of “Cincinnati” is these two lines “No one knew me” and “Everyone knew me” (Yamada, p.33). Personally I think it must be the major concept of this poem, especially, when the author mentioned it again in the last sentence. Here I wanted to create another thinking from the protagonist’ point of view. No one knew me, and this rude American came here and spilled right in front of my face, I was shocked and angry…… I want to curse him, hit him, or at least do something back to him…… but I didn’t…… my conscious stops me from doing such “revenge”…… Isn’t these revenges are the ones causing war? Enough, I am one of the victims of this war and I know how it feels. Enough, I need to stop the cycle from going around. One day, if the world started to unite as one…… I know that it was started from me, I sacrificed my dignity and respects, but I earn the long lasting story that I am worth tell to my future generations and people around the world that I started the peace between USA and Japan. Then I looked at this American again, I know he is not rude, he just full of anger, who else doesn’t, I forgive him and I smile back at him, clean the dirt on my face and left. It looks like I didn’t do anything….. Wrong, I just implied him a message that says there are still some Japanese who wants same thing like you all, we want to live in a peaceful world….

Lastly, I wanted to point out two very interesting poems from Lawson Fusao Inada. First, “The Legend of Bad Boy” (Lawson p.17), isn’t this poem very similar to “Rico”s story? If I am the buddy, then I would use this poem to describe “Rico” in the beginning of my story telling…… I know Rico is not a Bad boy, he was just learned and tried to survive in the environment that he grew up. Second, “The Legend of Good Girl”, I think it just describes “Grandmother’s role” in our previous reading. Most or all of the characteristics here perfectly fits grandmother’s role. Please criticize it if you have other opinions. Thank you!