Love Works

by Janice Mirikitani

Poems and prose by San Francisco's second Poet Laureate. This impressive collection brings together Mirikitani’s strongest poems on a diversity of the incarceration of Japanese-Americans during World War II, the fragility and challenges of family relationships, and the quest by people at the margins of society to claim justice, bread and dignity. Also included is her long inaugural essay in which she discusses how poetry can connect people and transform lives.

Genres: Poetry, Asian Literature, Aapi

112 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2002

Reviews

[ange · Rating 4 out of 5]

It is never a simple matter
this raging love, this unwanted hunger. (109)

[Hilary Slauson · Rating 4 out of 5]

favorite poems were “Shadow in Stone” and “Moth in the Closet”. her descriptions using the sense of taste for things that should not be tasted (like, the fallout of an atomic bomb, somehow) moved me most!

[Ashley · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book was recommended to me by a dear friend, Karen Wong. Mirikitani is the second poet laureate of San Francisco and writes in this collection of her experiences working with women and children who have suffered from abuse, her own life as the daughter of a a single mother and survivor of a WWII internment camp, and much more. I think this part is my favorite:

Some women
live with their arms crossed
to hide shame
hold fear tightly.
Without full measure of light
fruit turns small and bitter.

Some women
like orchards, grow
heartily despite winter,
planted deep
strongly rooted
her seed tendrils stretch, branches spread.
In elegant ripeness
are released leaf, fan, fragrance, fruit.

From "What is Possible"

[R.K. Cowles · Rating 3 out of 5]

2 3/4 stars

[Daisy · Rating 5 out of 5]

An excellent read - powerful words that run the gamut of human emotion from fear, anger, sadness, to love, companionship, and the resolve to overcome all obstacles for personal and community empowerment. I greatly enjoyed the visual aesthetic of the poems, as well as the strong use of alliteration and double entendres - Janice is a great writer, and worthy of a reading.

[Cecelia · Rating 5 out of 5]

Absolutely stunning.

[Sarah · Rating 5 out of 5]

I loved the poem Bad Women!!

[jade]

read Recipe

[Cathy Douglas · Rating 2 out of 5]

Mirikitani's poetry is the work of a community organizer. She seems like a wonderful person, dedicated to helping women and others make something out of the bumpy parts of live through art, and working together for the common good. It's just that the resulting poems aren't that interesting, and tend to blur together. If I knew the people and the circumstances that are the starting place of these poems, they might mean more.