Premonitions the Kaya Anthology of New Asian North American Poetry

PREMONITIONS THE KAYA ANTHOLOGY OF NEW ASIAN NORTH AMERICAN POETRY

EDITED BY WALTER K. LEW

KAYA PRODUCTION NEW YORK 1995 CONTENTS

THERESA HAK KYUNG CHA (1951-82)

2 from Commentaire

ROY KIYOOKA (1926-94) an April Fool's Divertimento: 40 'i am dancing a jig on an upturned bowl' by Heironymous Bosch & Heir

FRANCES CHUNG (1950-90)

from Crazy Melon: 50 "do you remember when it seemed..." "The hare krishna 51 people come..." 52 Back Then ForLiPo 53 54 Double Ten (10/10 day) "oh lucky me..." 55 56 Love Song "Where is the cockroach 57 who left..." 58 "first day of the journey..." . LAWSON FUSAO INADA

66 Kicking the Habit Listening Images (selections) 70

SESSHU FOSTER from City Terrace Field Manual: 76 "America is in the Heart and we are in the canebrake..." "In Mediterranean L.A " 77 78 "The pigeons are little gray angels..." "At least, somedays..." 79 80 "What's a little riot between friends?..." "We're caffeinated by..." 81

RICHARD OYAMA

In Praise of Nisei Men (part 3) 82 84 Summer Night, Hoboken

MEENA ALEXANDER

85 To Li Ch'ing-chao Paper Filled 88 with Light AL ROBLES

94 Manong Floating Eagle-Red Ant Over Etang's House 95 for Talong 97 Winter Rain Yum Cha with Gin San Kayaomunggi 98 Returns to Ifugao Mountain a Second Time 99 One Hundred Poems for Luis Syquia

LUIS MALAY SYQUIA

100 Working Crabtail in the Section Line in Alaska "From 1st to 3rd..." 102

SHIRLEY ANCHETA

105 A Woman Is Taken Locating the World 106 108 Tare Entrance 110 JAIME JACINTO

Last Confession 111 113 Another Monsoon Rain

VINCE GOTERA

115 A Soldier's Letter A Photo with Santa Claus 117

CELINE SALAZAR PARRENAS

119 Oo Nga, A San Bernardino Love Song Fruit Salad / Tropikal Poem 126

CYN.ZARCO

130 Magdalena's Vision Lyrix for Rodolfo 131 133 Nights Vanishing Act 134

EVELYN LAU

Crack 135 137 The Narcosis of the Depths LacLaRonge 139 JESSICA HAGEDORN

141 Lullaby (from the video Words in Your Face)

MARILYN CHIN

Composed Near 146 the Bay Bridge 147 New Year's Lament, 1988 Old Asian Hand 149

ANN KONG

Ponies and Spanish Guitars 152 155 Red Lantern Venice 156 158 A Rush of Wings Beauties of the Future 159 160 The Dance

THELMA SETO

161 Living in the Margins My Grandmother's Third Eye 166

WILLYCE KIM

168 "In this heat..." Home Coming 170 GLORIA TOYUN PARK

172 from Red Lolita

BARRY MASUDA

No Mo' Fish on Maui 178 179 Cybercarp: Pastoral Ala Moana Stoned: Intimations 180 on Pot and Atrophy, 14 Dec. 1992 181 Local Cyborg Postcards Tropic of Cancer 183 184 The Local Nose

R. ZAMORA LINMARK

Bilis. Write 'em. All. (excerpt) 185 191 Sensory for Nine

ROBERT S. KUWADA

Matsuzo Yokoo 197 198 December 7, 1941 Big Uncle 199 200 Poem from Kenkyusha's New Japanese-English Dictionary CHRISTIAN LANGWORTHY

Mango 206 208 from The Love Song of Nguyen Sa How I Could Interpret 213 the Events of My Youth, Events I Do Not Remember Except in Dreams 215 Seven Days in Saigon Cicada Song 220

BARBARA TRAN

PhuNuan 221 222 Fairy Tale Love and Rice 224

JULIETTE CHEN

TaiPoMei 225 227 A Reply A Commuter's Prayer 229

THERESA HAK KYUNG CHA

232 Edward Hopper's Western Motel, 1957 ARTHUR SZE

233 Archipelago The Los Alamos Museum 242

HO HON LEUNG

243 After the "Three Characters" A Symphonic Poem 247 "Unfinished"

TRAISE YAMAMOTO

249 Walking Across the Great Bridge Medievalist in a Hat 250 251 Interval At Heart Mountain, 1942 252

JOY KOGAWA

256 Coaldale Poem Road Building by Pick Axe 257 259 Where There's a Wall Old Woman in 260 , Housekeeping Room 261 Dance Lesson GERRY SHIKATANI

262 "the choice..." Our Nights in Perugia 263 266 With Kimurasan So What! a Bashoesque 268

FRED WAH

269 Scree-Sure Dancing What Prevails 272 •273 The Poem Called Syntax "WANT RIVER PIECE..." 274 276 "father it is fall..." from Music at the 277 Heart of Thinking

ROY MIKI

from market rinse 283 287 the rescue

MARIA LUISA B. AGUILAR-CARINO

292 Secrets Providence 294 296 Marrow TRINH T. MINH-HA

A Rainy Day 298 300 Scent of Musk

KIMIKO HAHN

302 Strands Cruising Barthes 305 312 Cuttings

TIMOTHY LIU

With Chaos in Each Kiss 324

JUSTIN CHIN

336 Chinese New Year Postcard Angels 340

MARTIN F. MANALANSAN IV

Your Cio-Cio-San 344 346 Fugitives DWIGHT OKITA

347 Mysteries of a Bowling Alley We're Given a Father for 350 Such a Short Time 352 Some Tattoos Facing the Mannequin 354

KAREN TEI YAMASHITA

358 from Hannah Kusoh: An American Butoh

MYUNG MI KIM

Anna O Addendum 360

TAN LIN

371 F Insomnia 375

JOHN YAU

377 Genghis Chan: Private Eye XXII Genghis Chan: 379 Private Eye XXIV 380 Conversation at Midnight Angel Atrapado XXI 382 13

MICHAEL ISHII

Senryu 1991 386

DAVID MURA

388 From Whence Cometh Desire?

RONALD PHILLIP TANAKA from The Mount Eden Poems 395

LOIS-ANN YAMANAKA

412 Kala: Saturday Night at the Pahala Theatre Tita:Japs 415 419 Yarn Wig Parts (IV) 422

ERIC CHOCK

424 Chinese Fireworks Banned in Hawaii Pua'a: Nuuanu 426 427 In the Garden of the Tantalus Museum 429 The Immigrant

CAROLYN LEI-LANILAU

Ha'ina 'ia mai ana ka puana 431 (Let the story be told) 439 love letter in a second language

JULIET S. KONO

Life Perfect 440 443 Internment Before Time 444 445 Yonsei

AMITAVA KUMAR

History 450 451 Mistaken Identity Primary Lessons 454 in Political Economy 455 Iraqi Restaurants

AGHA SHAHID ALI

The Last Saffron 456 459 The Country Without a Post Office MINA KUMAR

463 Summer Poem #2 Deewar 468

ALI ZARRIN

469 Modern Marriage A Silent Clock 470 472 Kearsley Park

YUN WANG

476 The Carp Beyond Hunger 478 480 Prisoner of Mountains

STEPHEN SHU-NING LIU

481 I'm Entering Your Shadow Windowview from a 482 Shanghai Hotel 483 The Lizard Eater

WANG PING

485 No Sense of Direction She Is That Reed 488 17

KOON WOON

492 The Memory of Hands An Old Hotel Dweller 496 497 Egg Tarts The Woman in the Next Room 498

SHIRLEY GEOK-LIN LIM

499 AhMah Starlight Haven 500

JOSEPHINE FOO

502 Driving Night Bloom 503 504 Childhood

WAHN YOON

505 Lady Photosynthesizes Visit 507 18

JEAN YOON

510 Direct Translation The De-Militarized Zone #1 511 512 In Tangier 1 Seoul, Korea 513

SUNG J. RNO

The Mounds 514 517 Country

JANET M. CHOI

519 What I'm Wild For At the Hundredth 520 Mile from Mong-Tahn

ANN CHOI

521 An Ordinary Evening in Garden Grove The Shower 522

JEAN HYUNG YUL CHU

523 Compromises A Father's Gift 525 to His Daughter WALTER K. LEW

526 Strangers Yuse-jang 528 (with CBS News in Seoul) 529 Treadwinds (Collages by Lewis Klahr)

BRIAN KIM STEFANS 538 Astoria Verl 539

RUSSELL LEONG

542 Unfolding Flowers, Matchless Flames

ANDREW TANG

Dust 548 549 Where Men Go to Cry The Smallness I Have 550

PATRICIA Y. IKEDA

551 Night Light Wild Iris 553 554 The Heron 557 NOTES TO THE POEMS

558 CONTRIBUTORS' NOTES

575 EDITOR'S AFTERWORD