Award winning poet Garrett Hongo visited Auburn’s Jule Collins Smith Museum on Thursday Nov. 17 for the museum’s Third Thursday Poetry Series.
Hongo has had three books published including “Yellow Light: Poems,” “The River of Heaven” and his most recent “Coral Roads: Poems.” “The River of Heaven,” published in 1988, received the Lamont Poetry Prize and was nominated for a Pulitzer Prize.
He currently teaches at the University of Oregon where he directed the Program of Creative Writing from 1989 to 1993.
Before Hongo read selections from his own work at the museum, there was an open mic for local Auburn poets to share their own work, and Hongo had nothing but nice things to say.
"Those were lovely poems," Hongo said. "They made sense. They were written modestly with humility. They cherished language and were written with respect for us as an audience. I don't hear that kind of thing much. You have much to be proud of."
Themes of Japanese culture and the experiences of Japanese-Americans characterize Hongo’s work. His birthplace in Volcano, Hawaii and adolescence in Los Angeles, California, have shaped his perspective on the world and contributed to his award winning poetry.
As Ken Autrey of the Jule Collin Smith Museum said when introducing him, Hongo's most recent book "Coral Road: Poems" depicts the irony of a hard life experienced by Japanese workers who came to America in the 20th century in contrast with the paradise of their surroundings.
"My project as a poet has been motivated by a search for origins of various kinds, a quest for ethnic and familial roots, cultural identity, and poetic inspiration," Hongo said.
Many of his poems are persona poems, taking on the voices of others such as his grandfather. Some of his most recognized poems discuss the "relocation" of Japanese-Americans during World War II.
His ability to beautifully depict landscape and the significance of place are also apparent throughout his work.
He first read his poem about his father called "What For" from his book "Yellow Light: Poems" at the museum. This poem showcases his distinctive qualities as a poet. It encompasses his list-like style that vividly paints a picture of a place and why that place matters.
Hongo's poetry contains a fierce longing for cultural identity of a man whose ancestry is rooted in Japan, transported to Hawaii and developed on the west coast of the United States.
As Hongo told Contemporary Writers, "I write to be a voice that I can listen to, one that makes sense and raises my own consciousness. And I write for all the people who might want the same thing, no matter what race, class or nationality."
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