Featured poem, “Given Name,” on 2/16/21. Thank you to former SF Poet Laureate, Kim Shuck!
Opening Poem for "The People's Inauguration"
On January 21, I was invited to read an opening blessing for The People’s Inauguration, a 10-day journey spearheaded by Valarie Kaur and an extraordinary community of visionaries, artists, activists, and healers striving to reclaim love as a force for justice and change in our world. The text of the poem is posted here.
"Four Quartets" featured on Best American Poetry blog
Traci Brimhall and I co-authored “Wild Recovery,” one of the folios published in Four Quartets: Poetry in the Pandemic by Tupelo Press. Editor, Kristina Marie Darling discusses the anthology on the Best American Poetry blog and shares a poem co-written by Traci and I.
New poems, co-written with Traci Brimhall
Pandemic poetry: newly published in Guesthouse and South Florida Poetry Journal.
"Acts of Grace" posted on Boom California
“Places are alive like ghosts are alive: subtle, unpredictable shape-shifters, infused with memory and emotion. The spirit of a place—the genius loci, as the ancients called it—rises from the land’s stories, its unique matrix of weather, struggle, celebration, and blood. There are places we return to again and again to find our stories. We change; they change. The stories we tell take on lives of their own…”
With thanks to BOOM editors, Romeo Guzman and Carribean Fragoza, for working with me on this new piece about my parents’ hometowns.
Janelle Saito, in “Acts of Grace,” photo by Dave Lehl.
Our canceled panel becomes a collective blog post
With thanks to Brandon Shimoda, Split This Rock, and Future Poem for the space to imagine what might have happened: “At 1 p.m. on Friday, March 27, five Japanese American poets—Brian Komei Dempster, W. Todd Kaneko, Mia Ayumi Malhotra, Brynn Saito, and I—did not give a reading at the Split This Rock Poetry Festival in Washington, D.C. We did not gather before an audience to share and discuss our work, and the work of other Japanese American poets. We did not gather to discuss the literature of Japanese American incarceration. We did not gather…”
"Dear—," a new chapbook and website, launched on Feb 8, 2020
“DEAR—“ was inspired by a pilgrimage I took with my dad, Gregg Saito, to the site where my grandparents were incarcerated during WWII: Gila River, Arizona. Beginning with letter-poems to family, the project soon bloomed to include correspondences with fellow writers, poets, colleagues, students, friends, and community members. Photographic portraits by Dave Lehl added another layer of intimacy and expression to the archive. The archive is ongoing and can be found at www.youaremissing.com; the chapbook contains selected letters, Densho archival images, photos, and new poems of mine.
Signing chapbooks at the launch of “Dear—” on February 8, 2020 in Clovis, CA.
The project launched with a community reading in Clovis, CA featuring readings by Gregg Saito, Janelle Saito, Marion Masada, Nikiko Masumoto, Valarie Kaur, Devoya Mayo, Akiko Miyake-Stoner, Naser Nekumanesh, Lee Herrick, Lisa Lee Herrick, Nohemi Samudio Gamis, and Samina Najmi. Many thanks to United Japanese Christian Church for generously hosting us today, and to the wonderful aunties who provided delicious refreshments! View images from the launch reading here.
New poem in Atticus Review
“Ordinary Animal,” a new poem in Atticus Review. With thanks to Michael Meyerhofer and the editorial staff!
5 Artists Who Explore Japanese American Incarceration
With thanks to poet and writer, Brandon Shimoda, who reflects on works by Heather Nagami, Rea Tajiri, Aisuke Kondo, and myself for Lit Hub.
Nikiko Masumoto & I in the Fresno Bee
Remembering legacies of trauma and resilience, this 4th of July:
“To reckon is to remember; to remember is to turn toward the history of this country with curiosity, and a true desire to face the patterns of brutal exclusion that bring us to this moment. What happens if, to honor this country’s promise of greatness, we ask ourselves a set of deeper, perhaps more difficult questions: What does it mean to belong to one another, as a community, and as a country? How can we encourage each other to bravely acknowledge the suffering of the past caused by government-sanctioned racism? Where, in our lives now, are we bystanders, and when are we brave?”
Toma Hubert, left, a Lakota Sioux tribe member, and Michael Topaum, with the Kiowa Tribe of Oklahoma, protest plans to house migrant children at Fort Sill, in Lawton, Okla., June 22, 2019. Protesters called the plan for the site, home to an internment camp for Japanese Americans during World War II, a return to one of the nation’s great shames. NICK OXFORD NYT
"Truth and Reconciliation" Artists' Residency
Wrapping up at the Santa Fe Art Institute’s “Truth and Reconciliation” residency. A powerful time of interdisciplinary conversation, writing, and art-making—and completing a new book project supported by Densho on the Japanese American incarceration of WWII. I’m so grateful for this time and support.
“From September 2018 through November 2019, SFAI will bring together 70 artists, creative practitioners, content experts, and innovative thinkers from all over the world to explore how uncovering and acknowledging the truth can be used as a means of reconciliation.”
Process notes, poems, and photographs in my residency studio space at the Santa Fe Art Institute.
Densho Artists Initiative Funding
Excited to be one of Densho’s 2019 Artists Initiative grant recipients along with facilitator, muralist, and artist, Mari Shibuya.
From Densho’s blog: “We’re pleased to introduce the two artists who will receive 2019 Densho Artists Initiative funding! Out of a wide selection of gifted artists and their powerful proposals, Brynn Saito and Mari Shibuya submitted ideas that we felt had the greatest potential to provoke important dialogues about trauma, healing, and the legacy of Japanese American WWII incarceration as it relates to contemporary injustices. We are also pleased to share that we were able to give several additional artists smaller grants, and we’ll be sharing their work throughout the year. Follow Densho on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter for updates on these projects and for opportunities to engage.”
VOGUE and Yonsei Memory Project
YMP co-founder, Nikiko Masumoto, and I—along with an amazing group of West Coast Japanese American women activists—were featured in “Memory Keepers.” An honor! “As a yonsei,” Nikiko Masumoto says, “I know that in many of our families, we are the last generation to have a personal relationship with survivors of incarceration.”
Nikiko Masumoto stands behind her grandmother, Carole Yukino Sugimoto Masumoto on the Masumoto Family Farm in Del Rey, California.
Brynn Saito in her father’s garden in Fresno, California.
New poem in The Volta
Thank you to the editors of The Volta for publishing “Thirteen Ways of Looking at a Teacher Resource” in the March 2019 issue.
Join Yonsei Memory Project on Feb 17, 2019...
Nikiko Masumoto and I are facilitating YMP’s 2nd annual “Memory Bus Ride,” FEBRUARY 17, 2019, 8:30AM-11:30AM. RSVP HERE! Community members and educators are invited to travel through local Fresno history, visiting important Japanese American sites of memory. Together, we will explore local stories through monuments, creative engagement, and conversations. Dialogue will be curated to ask about how we can support public education about Japanese American history and to draw connections with important contemporary concerns about civil liberties and xenophobia in America. This unique journey through memory is not to be missed! Reserve your spot via our RSVP form.
The Memory Bus Ride is YMP’s contribution to Day of Remembrance (DOR) weekend, an important annual date for reflecting on civil liberties, struggles for justice, and Japanese American memories of the World War II incarceration.
The Memory Ride will begin at the Fresno Fairgrounds, Chance Avenue entrance, at 8:30am, and will return to the Fairgrounds by 11:30am. All are welcome and seating is limited! We hope you can join us.
After the bus ride, the Central California District Council of the Japanese American Citizens League will be holding their annual Day of Remembrance luncheon at the Fresno Fairgrounds, 12pm-3pm. We hope you can attend! Please contact Travis Nishi and download flyer for details: tsnishi@aol.com.
Storytelling for Change: A New YMP Fellowship Program Based in Fresno, CA
Very excited to announce Yonsei Memory Project's "Storytelling for Change" Fellowship. The program will train new and experienced writers, artists, activists, organizers, educators, students, and local community members in the power of crafting and telling detailed, heart-moving, and inspiring personal stories that touch upon themes of civil injustice, civil liberties, and resilience. Do you have a story to tell? Please apply by September 1st!
Days of Remembrance in Fresno, CA - Please Join Us!
Join the Yonsei Memory Project (YMP) for a special weekend (Feb 17-19, 2018) commemorating the signing of Executive Order 9066, which led to the incarceration of the Japanese American community during World War II. More information here.
Poetry on San Francisco's MUNI...
Be on the look out for woman warrior poems on San Francisco's MUNI buses... More on the launch here.
"The San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency (SFMTA) and San Francisco Beautiful (SFB) today announced the five winners of the 2018 Muni Art Project. This year’s theme is “The Art of Poetry in San Francisco”. The five winning artists will have their newly created work presented along with five poems selected by the Poetry Society of America, all by local poets, displayed on 100 Muni buses that will be transformed into rolling art galleries throughout San Francisco beginning in January 2018."
Poetic Tuesdays, Sept 19th in downtown SF
Excited to host these folks! Facebook invite. Website. Lines and lyrics from Litquake Nation! Enjoy line breaks during your lunch break, as some of the Bay Area’s best poets and musicians share their work in the great outdoors. With James Cagney, Sandra Garcia Rivera, Bruce Snider, Aimee Suzara and Hierophonic.
Free lunchtime poetry reading on 7/11, Yerba Buena in downtown SF
I get to host these amazing poets, on Tuesday July 11!
