youngpoets.ca

Let’s use our imaginations a little bit for this one.

Ladies and gentlemen, welcome.

if we could taste this
by Jessica Knowles

1

I am writing you a poem about deep-frying.
I will coat your body with oil,
slide along the backs of your knees,
your throat hollow, your eyelashes.
bubble your skin with oil
you will smell of grease, heat.
I will place onion rings on your breasts.

2

I want a beard of peach fuzz

Canadian Poets Across the Curriculum: Fred Wah and Joy Kogawa
in the Canadian History Class
By Kathryn Bjornson

Most Canadian history courses will cover the discriminatory immigration and war-time policies that were levied against immigrants from Asia in this country from roughly the mid 19th Century to the mid 20th Century. Whether teaching about the head tax that was meant to discourage immigrants from China or the treatment of Japanese “enemy aliens” during WWII, poetry can help students to better understand the effects of these policies. Poetry allows us to bring those voices into the classroom that can speak in a direct way to the experiences of immigrants and their families. The opening lines of Joy Kogawa’s poem “Woodtick” (A Choice of Dreams. Toronto: McClelland and Stewart, 1974) personalizes the lasting effects of discrimination:

Enter the Chrysanthemum
by Fiona Tinwei Lam
Review by Stephanie Yip