Discover Nikkei Logo

https://www.discovernikkei.org/en/journal/2024/9/19/nikkei-uncovered-94/

Minidoka

comments

This month calls back Minidoka survivor Lawrence Matsuda into the Nikkei Uncovered poetry column and has inspired me to begin, from time to time, presenting columns with poetry related directly to a singular site of incarceration. Mr. Matsuda’s poems on Minidoka come from the perspective as a child in the camps and, from tears to night terrors to indelible scars, this is poetry that is not is easy to take in…and I am grateful for what it reveals and insists we remember.

Are you a survivor or descendant of a particular site of incarceration with poetry you would like to submit for the Nikkei Uncovered poetry column? Please email us at Editor@DiscoverNikkei.org.

—traci kato-kiriyama

* * * * *

Image by Alfredo Arreguin.

Lawrence Matsuda was born in the Minidoka, Idaho Concentration Camp during World War II. He has a Ph.D. in education from the University of Washington. After retirement, he became a writer and educational consultant.

In 2010, A Cold Wind from Idaho (poetry) was published by Black Lawrence Press. In 2014, Glimpses of a Forever Foreigner was released. In 2015, Matsuda collaborated with artist, Matt Sasaki, and produced a graphic novel, Fighting for America: Nisei Soldiers. Chapter one was animated by the Seattle Channel and won a 2016 regional Emmy. In 2016, he and Tess Gallagher collaborated on Boogie Woogie CrissCross, a book of poetry. In 2019 his novel, My Name is Not Viola, was published by Endicott and Hugh Books. In 2023, his book Shapeshifter-Minidoka Concentration Camp Legacy won one of two Honorable Mentions in the Idaho Book of the Year competition.

 

Shadow of the Enemy (Minidoka, Idaho 1943)

Mommy why are you still crying?
Something terrible, I said?
No, Minidoka makes me feel like dying.

Newspaper hysteria encourages lying,
fake news of Japanese is spread.

Mommy why are you still crying?

Reality and truth heap in stacks for burning.
Neighbors believe Mom dances with the dead.

Mommy this place makes me feel like dying.

In dreams I jump rope, always frowning,
snag pink children, fat, and overfed.

Mommy why are you still crying?

Goat head silhouettes emerging,
hunchbacks moan for bloodshed.

Minidoka makes me feel like dying.

Twin Falls children have trouble breathing,
rumors spread of slant-eyed monsters under beds.

Mommy why are you still crying?
This place makes me feel like dying.

 

Minidoka Night Terrors

My world begins to spin,
first slowly, faster, faster.
I drop my foot like an anchor,
weak attempt to stop the chaos.

I wake with a scream,
pray for shorter nights,
less time for demons.

My brother teaches me how
to re-enter nightmares.
I raise my hand,
mercilessly bludgeon creatures,
become the biggest bully under the sheets.

Night monsters are nothing
compared to the terror
of gazing into mother’s blank eyes.

 

Minidoka Follows Us to Seattle, 1946

We are basement squatters infused with mildew.
Cracked mosaic covers living room floor,
Minidoka scars remain, we pull through.

My Japanese name means “bamboo.”
Bend don’t break when knocked to all fours.
We are basement squatters infused with mildew.

Our fragrances stick like cement glue.
Foul odors exude from pores.
Minidoka scars remain, we pull through.

Real estate redlines forbid living in View Ridge.
We are castaways peppered with sores,
basement squatters infused with mildew.

Grandpa’s closet churns out sake homebrew,
federal agents confiscate moonshine store.
Minidoka scars remain, we pull through.

Paranoia builds like pressure beneath a screw,
few luxuries survive ravages of war.
We are basement squatters infused with mildew.
Minidoka scars remain, but we pull through.

 

All poems copyrighted by Lawrence Matsuda, 2024.

 

© 2024 Lawrence Matsuda

childhood concentration camps Discover Nikkei Idaho literature memory Minidoka concentration camp Nikkei Uncovered (series) poetry United States World War II camps
About this series

Nikkei Uncovered: a poetry column is a space for the Nikkei community to share stories through diverse writings on culture, history, and personal experience. The column will feature a wide variety of poetic form and subject matter with themes that include history, roots, identity; history—past into the present; food as ritual, celebration, and legacy; ritual and assumptions of tradition; place, location, and community; and love.

We’ve invited author, performer, and poet traci kato-kiriyama to curate this monthly poetry column, where we will publish one to two poets on the third Thursday of each month—from senior or young writers new to poetry, to published authors from around the country. We hope to uncover a web of voices linked through myriad differences and connected experience.

Logo design by Alison Skilbred

Learn More
About the Authors

Lawrence Matsuda was born in the Minidoka, Idaho Concentration Camp during World War II. He has a Ph.D. in education from the University of Washington.  After retirement, he became a writer and educational consultant.

In 2010, A Cold Wind from Idaho (poetry) was published by Black Lawrence Press. In 2014, Glimpses of a Forever Foreigner was released. In 2015, Matsuda collaborated with artist, Matt Sasaki, and produced a graphic novel, Fighting for America: Nisei Soldiers. Chapter one was animated by the Seattle Channel and won a 2016 regional Emmy.  In 2016, he and Tess Gallagher collaborated on Boogie Woogie CrissCross, a book of poetry. In 2019 his novel, My Name is Not Viola, was published by Endicott and Hugh Books. In 2023, his book Shapeshifter-Minidoka Concentration Camp Legacy won one of two Honorable Mentions in the Idaho Book of the Year competition.

Profile image by Alfredo Arreguin.

Updated September 2024


traci kato-kiriyama is a performer, actor, writer, author, educator, and art+community organizer who splits the time and space in her body feeling grounded in gratitude, inspired by audacity, and thoroughly insane—oft times all at once. She’s passionately invested in a number of projects that include Pull Project (PULL: Tales of Obsession); Generations Of War; The (title-ever-evolving) Nikkei Network for Gender and Sexual Positivity; Kizuna; Budokan of LA; and is the Director/Co-Founder of Tuesday Night Project and Co-Curator of its flagship “Tuesday Night Cafe.” She’s working on a second book of writing/poetry attuned to survival, slated for publication next year by Writ Large Press.

Updated August 2013

Explore more stories! Learn more about Nikkei around the world by searching our vast archive. Explore the Journal
We’re looking for stories like yours! Submit your article, essay, fiction, or poetry to be included in our archive of global Nikkei stories. Learn More
Discover Nikkei brandmark New Site Design See exciting new changes to Discover Nikkei. Find out what’s new and what’s coming soon! Learn More

Discover Nikkei Updates

NIKKEI NAMES 2
Vote for Nima-kai Favorite!
Read the stories and give a star to the ones you like the most! Help select our Community Favorite.
NIMA VOICES
Episode 17
November 12
5pm PDT | 7pm PET
Featured Nima:
Graciela Nakachi
Guest Host:
Enrique Higa

Presented in Spanish
NEW SOCIAL MEDIA ACCOUNT
We’re on Instagram!
Follow us @discovernikkei for new site content, program announcements, and more!