The Splintered Moon

by Joy Kogawa

Joy Kogawa's first book of poetry.

Table of contents:

Jacob--for Wes
I Know Who I Am
Tongue-tied
No Worms on my Hook
I Think I Am That Fabled Princess
Owned a Pain
Nutcracker
Old Woman
Untitled [Sometimes at the end of a trying session]
Laugh a Little
Pity My Dress
'Come Out'
Billboard City
Communication
In Moose Jaw
Snowflake
Untitled ['Help me someone,' I said softly]
In Memory
Loneliness
Knew a Polite Man
Righteous Cleansing
Divisions
We had not seen it

12 pages, Unknown Binding

Published January 1, 1967

About the author

Joy Kogawa was born in Vancouver in 1935 to Japanese-Canadian parents. During WWII, Joy and her family were forced to move to Slocan, British Columbia, an injustice Kogawa addresses in her 1981 novel, Obasan. Kogawa has worked to educate Canadians about the history of Japanese Canadians and she was active in the fight for official governmental redress.

Kogawa studied at the University of Alberta and the University of Saskatchewan. Her most recent poetic publication is A Garden of Anchors. The long poem, A Song of Lilith, published in 2000 with art by Lilian Broca, retells the story of Lilith, the mythical first partner to Adam.

In 1986, Kogawa was made a Member of the Order of Canada; in 2006, she was made a Member of the Order of British Columbia. In 2010, the Japanese government honored Kogawa with the Order of the Rising Sun "for her contribution to the understanding and preservation of Japanese Canadian history.