Transcript: Poems on Air, Episode 7 - Amy Uyematsu

[Music intro]

LYNNE THOMPSON: Hello! My name is Lynne Thompson, Poet Laureate for the City of Los Angeles and I’m so happy to welcome listeners to this installment of Poems on Air, a podcast supported by the Los Angeles Public Library. Every week, I’ll present the work of poets I admire, poets who you should know, and poets who have made a substantial and inimitable contribution to the art and craft of poetry.

LYNNE THOMPSON: As we continue to celebrate and highlight the contributions of Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders to the Los Angeles landscape, I knew I wanted to honor my friend, the poet, Amy Uyematsu. Amy and I belong to the baby boomer generation and, as such, shared the experience of growing up in Japanese American spaces—albeit miles apart—her, in the San Gabriel Valley and me, in the View Park-Baldwin Hills area of Los Angeles. Those experiences contributed, in no small part, to the way she and I view the world today, and can provide a template, I believe, for the many ways in which communities can enjoy the differences and similarities of their humanity.

LYNNE THOMPSON: Today’s poem is “The Sign Says “Closed for Business” by Amy Uyematsu.

Word got around
to order tofu and sugar
from the Morita Grocery Company,
Grandpa Jiro’s store on wheels.
On Saturdays he serviced
the entire San Gabriel Valley,
from Rosemead to San Marino,
bringing rice and milk
to the issei farmers who had no time
to drive into Little Tokyo.

When Jiro delivered food
in his panel truck, he’d bring

my young mother, then five or six,
to keep him company.
At each stop they’d meet a busy wife—
just enough time to gossip a little,
scribble the next week’s order.
Mother remembers how popular
Grandpa was, everyone on his route
liked him—and when they got home,
a suspicious Grandma checked
his shirts for lipstick.

After Pearl Harbor, the Moritas were sent
on a train to Gila Relocation Camp—
built on the Gila River Indian Reservation land.
Though Grandpa Jiro loved to tell stories,
he didn’t talk about camp, and when
Grandpa came back in `46,
the “Closed for Business” sign
was gone—so was his store,
and all those issei farms
waiting for his visit.

LYNNE THOMPSON: The Los Angeles Poet Laureate was created as a joint program between the City’s Department of Cultural Affairs and the Los Angeles Public Library and this podcast will be available on the Library’s website. In the future, episodes will be available on iTunes, Google, and Spotify. Thanks for listening!

[Music outro]

  • Back to Poems on Air: Episode 7

    • DISCLAIMER: This is NOT a certified or verbatim transcript, but rather represents only the context of the class or meeting, subject to the inherent limitations of real-time captioning. The primary focus of real-time captioning is general communication access and as such this document is not suitable, acceptable, nor is it intended for use in any type of legal proceeding. Transcript provided by the author.

Top