January 16, 2025
AAPI Poetry
For Peace, Love, and Understanding
By Leonard Chan
Back in 2005, AACP published “Petals of the Vanda.” This was our first poetry book. In order to celebrate the release of our new book, we had our first poetry event. We called it “Kakizome in San Mateo.” Kakizome, a Japanese tradition of writing calligraphy at the beginning of the year (often the writing of poetry, such as haiku or tanka) seemed somewhat appropriate for the event since “Petals of the Vanda” was a translation of a book of tanka poetry.
After that, we held five more poetry events, mainly at the beginning of the year. We stopped having our poetry events for a long while, but I have always wanted to restart it. This January 26th, AACP will be co-hosting our 7th poetry event and we hope you can all attend it.
The theme that we have chosen for our event reflects the concerns that many in our community may be having. Are we heading towards a period where communities become even more divided and fearful of one another? Will we see more hatred against the AAPI community and others? Will masses of immigrants and their families (maybe even US citizens), be caged in immigration detention centers and deported? Will the gains that we’ve made in education, business, and government be lost?
In such fraught times we must do more to bridge the chasm and to also support those in need. Stopping hate cannot be done in isolation. At our event, AAPI poets and musicians will come together to help spread peace, love, and understanding.
For students, we especially put out a call to you to write your own poems for peace, love, and understanding, and encourage you to read them during our open microphone segment of the program. Adults are welcome to read your poetry too.
Even if you don’t write and read a poem, you’re all welcome to come and listen to our poets and special music performers Charlie Chin and his duo partner, Victor Labrador.
Here is some information about our Guests.
Genny Lim
Genny is the new poet laureate of San Francisco and the first Chinese American to serve in this role. She is a second generation Chinese American, born and raised in San Francisco. As a former San Francisco Arts Commissioner under Mayors Art Agnos and Frank Jordan, she helped establish the cultural Equity Arts program and Writers Corps under the auspices of the Art Commission. She curated the Poetry-in-the Schools Program at the De Young Museum (1989-1993) and served on the faculty of New College of California (1987-2007), co-founding the Arts and Social Change Program.
Genny served as the San Francisco Jazz Poet Laureate from 2016-2018. Her award-winning play “Paper Angels” has been produced throughout the US, Canada, and China. She is the author of five poetry collections, “Winter Place,” “Child of War,” “Paper Gods, and Rebels,” “KRA!,” and “La Morte Del Tempo.” Genny was also co-author of the award-winning translation of poetry written by detainees on Angel Island called “Island: Poetry and History of Chinese Immigrants on Angel Island.” As an editor of two Senior Asian American anthologies, she created the books, “From Both Shores” and “Window: Glimpses of our Storied Past.”
Genny has toured as a featured poet at International Poetry festivals in Bosnia-Herzegovina, Italy, Venezuela, and the United States.
Frances Kakugawa
Frances is an award-winning author of eighteen books. A former teacher and caregiver herself, Frances advocates for treating the elderly and others with dementia or long-term illness with dignity at all times, noting that this more humane view of caregiving brings grace to both patient and caregiver, and transforms the experience from a burden into an opportunity for personal connection and growth. Through her writings, workshops, school visitations, readings and speaking engagements nationwide, she now helps adults and children discover how to use writing to enrich their own lives. She also penned “Dear Frances,” a regular column on caregiving in “The Hawai‘i Herald.”
Her releases include the Wordsworth the Poet children’s book series; caregivers’ guides “Mosaic Moon: Caregiving Through Poetry” and “I Am Somebody: Bringing Dignity and Compassion to Alzheimer’s Caregiving;” and memoirs “Teacher, You Look Like a Horse!,” “Kapoho: Memoir of a Modern Pompeii,” “Echoes of Kapoho,” and her latest “Can I Have Your Pearl Bracelet?”
She has been recognized for her work by the Hawai‘i Book Publishers Association, Northern California Publishers & Authors, Mom’s Choice Awards, Sunrise Ministry Foundation, California Writers Club, Hawai‘i Pacific Gerontological Society, and the Hawai‘i Japanese Women’s Society Foundation.
You can read three AACP newsletter interviews we’ve had with Frances by going to the following links:
An Interview with Frances H. Kakugawa (2009)
Here is a review of “Can I Have Your Pearl Bracelet?”:
Brian Komei Dempster
Brian is a professor of rhetoric and language and a faculty member in Asian Pacific American Studies at the University of San Francisco (USF), where he also serves as Co-Director for the Center for Research, Artistic, and Scholarly Excellence and Director of Administration for the Master of Arts in Asia Pacific Studies. He has been at USF since 2001 and received the Distinguished Teaching Award (along with Ronald Sundstrom) in 2010 and the Dean's Scholar Award for 2022-2023.
At the university, he has taught various courses in the Rhetoric and Language Department and has instructed creative writing workshops and Asian Pacific American literature courses for the English Department as well as the Research Methods and Capstone Project graduate seminars for the Master's in Asia Pacific Studies Program. He’s editor of both “From Our Side of the Fence: Growing Up in America's Concentration Camps” and “Making Home from War: Stories of Japanese American Exile and Resettlement.” “Topaz,” his debut book of poetry, received the 15 Bytes Book Award in Poetry. His second poetry collection, “Seize,” was winner of the Julie Suk Award, recipient of an NCPA Gold Award in Poetry, and Silver Winner of a Human Relations Indie Book Award. He was a 2023 Guggenheim Fellow in Poetry.
Charlie Chin and Victor Labrador
Charlie is a folk and folk-rock musician, historian, actor, and author who got his start in Greenwich Village in the 1960s. During the 1960s, he was a member of the group “Cat Mother and the All Night Newsboys” whose first album was produced by Jimi Hendrix. Cat Mother also performed at major concerts such as the “Toronto Rock and Roll Revival” and 1969 Devonshire Downs “Newport Pop Festival.”
During the 1970s Charlie was part of a pioneering all Asian American folk trio with JoAnne Miyamoto and Chris Iijima (sometimes referred to as “Yellow Pearl”). They were at the forefront of the Asian American movement of the early 70s, singing to young AAPI activists who fought for ethnic studies and other matters important to the community.
Charlie went on to do one man historical plays for the California Council for the Humanities and Chinese Historical Society of America.
Charlie also authored the children’s book “China’s Bravest Girl” based on the actual poem about Mulan. He continues his writing in articles for East Wind Ezine.
Come hear Charlie perform with his current duo partner Victor Labrador.
You can read three AACP interviews we’ve had with Charlie by going to the following links:
An Interview With Charlie Chin (1998)
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You can also read some poems by Genny Lim, Frances Kakugawa, and Brian Komei Dempster in the following newsletter articles
January 2024 newsletter article
January 2023 newsletter article
January 2022 newsletter article
January 2021 newsletter article
Our Sponsors
Asian American Curriculum Project, Asian Law Caucus, Stop AAPI Hate, Self-Help For the Elderly, San Mateo Japanese American Community Center, San Mateo JACL, and the San Mateo Library System
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