Poetry Flows Through Our Blood
February 28, 3 pm
In celebration of his new book, Seize, and in commemoration of Day of Remembrance, Brian Komei Dempster invites fellow Japanese American poets Brynn Saito and Mia Ayumi Malhotra to join him for this dynamic group presentation. Through a reading of their work and interactive dialogue, these poets will share how the whispered voices of their ancestors infuse the present–and how the legacy of Japanese American wartime incarceration shapes their poetry and connects them to one another. Last March, these poets were part of a joint panel that planned to explore intergenerational trauma of the Japanese American prison camp experience, when COVID-19 disrupted their plans. Here, we find another rendition.
Seize focuses on Dempster’s experience of raising his son, Brendan, who suffers from intractable epilepsy and pervasive developmental delays. Moreover, the book explores wartime imprisonment, domestic/familial/racial tensions, and legacies of trauma and violence—along with paths towards resolution. Through juxtaposition, the poems link seemingly disparate events through a central metaphor: seizure.
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Brian Komei Dempster’s most recent book of poems is Seize, published by Four Way Books in fall 2020. His debut book of poetry, Topaz (Four Way Books, 2013) received the 15 Bytes 2014 Book Award in Poetry. He is the editor of both From Our Side of the Fence: Growing Up in America’s Concentration Camps (Kearny Street Workshop, 2001) and Making Home from War: Stories of Japanese American Exile and Resettlement (Heyday, 2011).
Like Dempster, Malhotra and Saito write to document their family history and honor their ancestors. All three poets contend with complex issues of gender, culture, and identity.
Brynn Saito is a poet, writer, and educator. She’s the author of Power Makes Us Swoon (2016) and The Palace of Contemplating Departure (2013). She is an Assistant Professor at Fresno State University.
Mia Ayumi Malhotra is the author of Isako Isako (Alice James Books, 2018), winner of the Alice James Award, the Nautilus Gold Award for Poetry, a National Indie Excellence Award, a Maine Literary Award, and finalist for the California Book Award.
Photo: Brynn Saito, Brian Dempster, Mia Malhotra, 2015. Courtesy of Brynn Saito.