Dreams do Come True
I have created art and written poetry almost my entire life. As I have pursued poetry more deeply, the words and art have become a conversation. A long time dream has been to have a book published in full color of my art and poetry. In the past, this was cost prohibitive. Times have changed and color printing is affordable.
A friend told me about a publisher that had moved to Joshua Tree, CA. He published a beautiful book for her. I attended her book launch and met Rich Soos, the publisher of Cholla Needles press. I submitted “Moon of Many Petals” to him and he accepted the book for publication. I had a few color pictures inside. After discussion, we decided to add several images to go with this novel in verse about the Manzanar internment camp.
Rich selected images to go with the poems. At first I was surprised by some of his choices. Then I began to see the connections between my fiber art and my poems. I changed some of the images as I had stitched certain ones to go with specific poems. Another surprise was that the table of contents and page numbers were removed. He also had more than one poem per page. I told myself, you have wanted an art book for a long time. This is beautiful. Let go of the table of contents and page numbers. I did and people don’t notice.
On March 11, 2018 Cholla Needles hosted the book launch with Space Cowboy Books. The weather was threatening to rain. I wanted an outdoor reading in such a wonderful place. Partly cloudy and 72 degrees made for a great day. Several people drove a distance and local writers were there. As the feature, I also brought some of my original art quilts. This story began with the art. I enjoyed introducing my story family to others. A story of displacement, loss, and beauty. It was great to hear others read for the open mic. (Photograph by Wendy Hunt)
“Natsumi-Moon” is one of my art quilts in the book. A combination of vintage kimono silks, hand beading, and free-form quilting.
As I share this book at poetry readings, it has been a joy to hear people’s stories connected to their experiences of the internment camps. Even if they weren’t there, it shows how this tragic time in history touched many lives. “Never Forget” is the cry after 76 years.
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