artifical government

This is a found poem...

Japanese Americans, identification cards, enemy aliens.

Uproot from homes, worried about safety.

Tied end to end.

Wrapping paper, bags, boxes, and bits of silk thread,

Rolled up into a silk ball.

The simple things to dispose of.

Paintings, porcelain, and pottery:

To be packed for storage or thrown out.

Gratitude, freedom, pleasant memory:

Couldn’t bear to throw away,

But the army wouldn’t wait.

Pain- stricken, internal friction, and helplessness.

It was hopeless.

Barbered wire, harsh land, dismal camp.

Pity spread like a disease.

Corrosive nature creates doubts and tensions.

An entirely different air saps the intiative.

Lost my voice from the dust; homesick and dreary.

There is no escape.

Baggage and name tags.

Family number 13453.

 

Author's Note

This is a found poem i wrote for my U.S. history class when american japanese were sent to camps after WWII in america...love history, i have the best history teacher.

Reviews

[Damon Favreau]

WOW...this is like pro...I truely felt the feelings that were sent by this poem...the frustrations and all. Awesome write!

[Stammers]

Your best run in this -

'Lost my voice from the dust; homesick and dreary.
There is no escape.
Baggage and name tags.
Family number 13453.'

Really good, I think.

was interesting to see you stick to one thread of story, as you I think you use collective images to piece together an idea usually. I like the simplicity of it, makes it feel gasped and worn out.

[Sarah McConnaughey]

This is really sad, a great poem, but the story behind it is very sad. This is a very powerful poem. Well done!

[Jonathan De Elvira]

it's very rare for a word to word poem to leave some effect to its reader, it may not effected me as much but i'm sure many people would think much more of this poem, you're a good writer and this poem was very thoughtfully wrote...

[TheFemininePad]

I remember reading about this. It's true that it did happen. It took time for things to return back to normal. You wouldn't believe that damage that the Japanese did during pearl harbor. I disagree with what happened with the camps though. Thank you for writing a poem about this. Great job.

[trainwreck]

This was a good poem. I like this quite a bit.