Desert Run, Poems and Stories

These are beautiful, nuanced poems, smart and satirical, with subtle, sometimes biting irony, but also playful and ultimately suffused with compassion. As with Camp Notes, many of Yamada's poems here are informed by her internment experience during the Second World World, but it would be a disservice to say that they are just about that, or limited to that. Combined with the two stories and one prose poem she includes here (the stories deal with the protagonists' Japanese American identity relative to Japan/Japanese culture), this collection is vivid and affecting and emotionally rewarding. Her poetry is also incredibly narrative and accessible. She is amazing! Definitely something to own.