Tinfish books touch and transcend time

HONOLULU—Let’s face it: In today’s society, who has the time to read a book, much less a book full of poetry? Well, two of Tinfish Press’ most recent books, Eulogies and Remember to Wave, beg to be read—if not for the profound insight they provide about schizophrenia and racism respectively, then definitely for the mere fact that they are filled with meaningful words that make you think about life and realize how precious it really is.

“I like to publish work that addresses difficult issues like mental illness and racism, although I need the work to do more than simply use such content,” says Tinfish publisher Susan Schultz. 

“I like poetry that engages that difficulty with another form of difficulty, either formal (how the poem is placed on the page) or linguistic (what words are chosen to convey these engagements),” Schultz adds. “I also publish poetry that engages these issues ethically, not taking advantage of them, but genuinely opening up questions.”

Eulogies is written by local writer and University of Hawaii at Manoa student Elizabeth Soto. The book documents, very intensely through poetry, Soto’s experience with her late husband whose schizophrenia led to suicide. 

A passage reads: “I am sewn together, but there are pieces of me missing, he said, please help me find me.”

Indeed, Soto’s words are simplistic yet forceful. They read like the most intimate diary or moreover a catharsis of the mind and soul. Also, the poetry is cleverly mapped out so that what starts off seeming like a random sharing of thoughts, ends up being a lyrical journey about the deepest and darkest moments of Soto’s love affair with her husband.

Remember to Wave is also a documentary poem but about the “secret past” of a Japanese internment camp in Portland, Oregon. Writer Kaia Sand from Portland informs us about the controlled captivity and hideous living conditions of the Japanese Americans during World War II.

According to Sand, the Japanese lived in PODS (Portable On Demand Shelters) that could be as little as 8x7x7 feet in size and house as many as 5 people. She writes: “The walkway to a home is trespass when a home is a squat.” 

Certainly, Sand’s words have a haunting way about them—like an innocent bystander, shaken but trying to make clear the details of a car crash to a police officer. She explains how the internment camp is flooded, killing many. Then, she takes us through the gloomy details of this historical account: “Today, as I walk along the land, a breeze reminding me of the water nearby. I am hard-pressed to see any of that history … the prison-past, the flooded city.”

For more information and to purchase the books, visit http://tinfishpress.com.