Topaz: Artists in Internment

A picture of the wall where all of the poems were placed.

A piece of art that really stood out to me that was titled, “Where Would We Go?”

A photograph taken of the Topaz Camp.

     A few months ago I had the opportunity to attend a reading of a play called “Block 8” which is a story based off of the experiences of Japanese Americans during WWII.  The reading was done in honor of the opening of an exhibit in Salt Lake City featuring art that was from the Japanese Internment Camp in Delta, Utah called Topaz.
    The poet Lawson Inada, who helped to present the Topaz art, wanted people to be able to interact with the exhibit.  So he came up with what he called Jan Ken Po-ems (Jan Ken Po is the rock-paper-scissors childhood game) which hint at haiku, but they are just common everyday phrases applied in an uncommon context.

Some of the phrases were …
Broke His Heart
In God We …
Do It Justice
Go On Living
Please Forgive Us

Inada wrote:
    “We want your thoughts and responses to the artwork created by artists, no longer alive, who visually recorded their lives behind a barbed-wire fence.
    “Begin with one of these pieces of paper with three words written on them.  Add your words.  Your words can come before one of the words or after.  You may cross one out and add another to the list.  You choose.  If you wish, just begin with a blank piece of paper and write a Jan Ken Po-em.
    “In Japan, Shinto temples and, often, trees and bushes are places were individuals may leave a paper prayer.  In our version, your poem may be a poem, a wish, a dream or a prayer.  Please post on the wall above.  Thank you.”

And I invite you all to do the same.  For more information you can visit http://topazmuseum.org/

~ Rachel Shimizu