April is National Poetry Month. Writers from around our newsroom share the poems they’re turning to as the nation defrosts…
One day above me / men with bony shoulders came and built the barracks, Brynn Saito writes in “Stone,” a poem that bears witness to Japanese internment from the perspective of a rock. Saito often explores Japanese American history through a personal lens, but here, she uses an inanimate object to help readers access the pain—and resilience—of those interned. This year, I’ve felt that the country has started to reckon more fully with its legacy of racism toward Asian Americans. Like the stone in this poem, I hope that more people will see themselves not as a bystander, but as a listener and an empath.
— Morgan Ome, assistant editor
Click here to read Brynn’s poem, “Stone.”