That Blue Trickster Time

In revisiting her family's history during the World War II incarceration of Japanese Americans, Amy Uyematsu's latest collection, That Blue Trickster Time, is a powerful affirmation of Asian Americans during a global pandemic in which anti-Asian racism is at an all-time high. But it is also a stirring salute to older women-as mothers and warriors, rebels and ancient goddesses. While addressing serious social and political issues, Uyematsu's poems are deeply rooted in a reverence for nature and spiritual growth that comes with aging. The anger of her youthful protest days is still there, but now she can affirm this world of conflict and beauty as she speaks to the radiance of the ordinary, whether her love of stones and pine trees or her fascination with numbers and folk art. These are ferocious poems which celebrate being an older woman of color.