Aquiline by Jane Joritz-Nakagawa, A Review

review by Suzanne Kamata

In reading the poetry of Jane Joritz-Nakagawa, I am reminded of the sometimes bizarre syntax in writing produced by non-native speakers of English. For many years, Joritz-Nakagawa has taught in Japan where English words often appear in advertising and other forms of writing. This writing is frequently nonsensical, and yet strange juxtapositions and mistranslations may give new meaning to words, or result in inadvertent poetry.

Although the poems in Joritz-Nakagawa’s recently released collection, Aquiline (which follows last year’s Skin Museum) may strike the casual reader as nonsensical or incomprehensible, upon closer examination, it becomes clear that her choice of words is anything but inadvertent. She styles language into poems that force us to reconsider our preconceptions and that address many of our most immediate concerns.

For example, “dead,” which initially appeared in Her Circle Ezine, brings to mind the ravages of war, while “View from the Century Hyatt Hotel Tokyo” addresses the issue of homelessness. “Grey men in blue vinyl/ tents” are observed from a position of privilege and luxury. In “She,” the “bruises & large white sunglasses like/Jackie O” call up a battered woman.

“Evil Nature,” a four-part poem that comprises the core of this book, broods on human violence against nature, which has in turn made nature a menace to humankind. Instead of a nurturing Mother Nature, a haven of beauty and clean air, we now have “mechanic constellations” and “emotionally unavailable trees” along with “birds headed in the wrong direction” and “serial killing cloud.”

While her subjects may remain serious, Joritz-Nakagawa obviously takes delight in language, and reveals a sense of playfulness in her various experiments. In S.P. 1 and S.P. 2, she rearranges lines from poems by Sylvia Plath, coming up with “a crocodile of small girls.” “Evil Nature 4″ mixes the ideograms for cloud, forest, mountain and rain with suggestive phrases such as “To banish now the kiss, ancient.”

Experimental poetry is clearly not for everyone, but for those who are interested in expanding the limits of language, Joritz-Nakagawa is a poet worth reading. At turns stunning and shocking, Aquiline is an accomplished collection.

To order, write to info [at] printedmatterpress [dot] com

or visit the publisher’s website here.

Suzanne Kamata is the author of Losing Kei and the editor of the anthologies The Broken Bridge: Fiction from Expatriates in Literary Japan and Love You to Pieces: Creative Writers on Raising a Child with Special Needs.

National Novel Writing Month: One Author’s Journal, Day 1

by Karen Harrington

Nov 1, 2007

First day of NaNoWriMo. I started writing at 9:30 a.m. after dropping my girls off at school. Thankfully, they go to school two days a week and this is prized writing/laundry folding time.

I put on a music selection of Enya.

I wrote until 10:30 a.m. I checked the word count two times, I admit it. The first time, I had accumulated 769 words. Not too bad for the first sprint.

Then, I got up to vacuum. Vacuuming is one of this writer’s best-kept secrets because it stretches the whole body and is a great interruption from the writer’s posture. (Please don’t tell my husband.)

Then, back to the computer. While vacuuming I came up with another new idea and went back to the computer, abandoning the vacuum in the entryway.

I wrote another half-hour and found I had amassed 2,177 words. Of course, the first entry into any writing project is the most fun. I actually like starting something new over the tireless editing of a work I am no longer objective about. So don’t pat me on the back too much for that effort. I was fueled by caffeine-laden, Halloween candy enthusiasm and all the story ideas I had made notes on the night before.

Here’s how it begins:

Come with me now. Don’t be afraid. Take my hand. I want to tell you a story. Yes, it will have some scary parts. And, there may be a time or two when you need to run off to mother and fetch a tissue. But there are going to be many, many happy moments as well. There are going to be times when you want me to retell a section of the story so you can commit it to memory. So come on in. Sit down on one of the many colorful cushions with all the other children and I will tell you the wonderful story of the Delano children and how the youngest, Claire, finally got her teddy bear. If you like teddy bears as much as she does, you will understand why this story needs to be told. Because in the end, you will see that no one has the right to take away someone’s teddy bear. Ever.

To begin with the Delano family of 1600 Bellvue Drive in Caketop, Texas, live a very quiet and peaceful life.

So far, my story, No Teddy Bears, follows the Delano family of Caketop, Texas, as the four siblings are forced into foster care after the untimely death of both of their parents. The first 2000 words have thus far dealt with describing the Delano’s home and inhabitants. I chose a young adult theme and approach because:

1/ I have never written in this genre before. And I must say, trick-or-treating with my tots for the first time last night was great inspiration for wanting to recreate the delight in a child’s face about something as small as lolli-pop.

2/ I knew I could be inventive about descriptions and names. For example, I have given all four of the children three names. Graham Greene Grape Delano; Prosperity Plath Peaches Delano; Frank Faulkner Fudge Delano; and, Claire Chaucer Cupcake Delano.

Yes, this is in part to beef up the word count. But also because I think this whimsy fits the story, don’t you?

Until next time, Write on!

Karen Harrington is a Texas native who has been writing fiction for more than twenty years. Her writing has received honors from the Hemingway Short Story Festival, the Texas Film Institute Screenplay Contest and the Writers’ Digest National Script Contest. A graduate of the University of Texas at Dallas, she has worked as a speechwriter and editor for major corporations and non-profit organizations.

She authored and published There’s a Dog in the Doorway, a children’s book created expressly for the Dr. Laura Schlessinger Foundation’s “My Stuff Bags.” My Stuff bags go to children in need who must leave their home due to abuse, neglect or abandonment.

Her first novel, JANEOLOGY, will be released in Spring 2008 from Kunati Books (www.kunati.com).

She lives in Dallas, Texas, with her husband and two children.

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