Poetry by Lawson Fusao Inada

July 1, 1992 • 6 x 9 • 112 pages • 978-1-56689-004-5

A collection of poems that address jazz music, the Sand Creek Massacre, the internment of Japanese Americans, and other subjects.

About the Author

Lawson Fusao Inada is an emeritus professor of writing at Southern Oregon University in Ashland. Inada is the author of five books: Legends from Camp, Drawing the Line, In This Great Land of Freedom, Just Into/Nations, and Before the War. He is the editor of three important volumes, including the acclaimed Only What We Could Carry: The Japanese-American Internment Experience. On two previous occasions, in 1972 and 1985, Professor Inada won Poetry Fellowships from the National Endowment for the Arts and his work has appeared in The Best American Poetry.

In addition to these individual publications, Inada has written critical introductions to a number of works, such as John Okada’s No-No Boy.

Reviews

“Legends from Camp is a masterwork of American poetry. A poet-musician in the tradition of Walt Whitman and James A. Wright, Inada plays the music of the continent itself: the song of the Rogue River pines and the song of the humble bunchgrass become Buddhist prayer. Inada celebrates be-bop and jazz; he sings songs and laments from history, the Sand Creek Massacre and the imprisonment of American Japanese families only fifty years ago. Inada’s ear for the musicality of English is unsurpassed; Legends from Camp is a veritable symphony you must not miss!” —Leslie Marmon Silko