“Gell Ngnoy Yee: Call Me Auntie” by Flo Oy Wong
On Angel Island near the open road,
A distance from Ai Fow, San Francisco,
The ocean billows.
I think of you, my Gim Sahn* husband.
Our daughters and I have traveled
A long way to be with you.
We are latched behind barbed wire,
Soldiers with guns here.
Second daughter. . .shivers.
She asks. . .what she has done wrong.
What do I tell her?
I worry. . .
Will we answer the questions correctly?
In Fah Kee Gwok,** America, I am your sister,
Not your wife.
“Shhh!”
I warn our daughters,
“Maw Gong, Maw Gong,
Don’t tell, don’t tell.
Secret.
Maw hom ngnoy doo Mama.
Do not call me Mother.
Gell ngnoy yee,
Call me Auntie.”
In November 1933, my mother, a “paper sister,” was detained at the Angel Island Immigration Station along with my three older sisters. They stayed for six days for interrogation purposes before leaving to join our father in Oakland, California.
*Gim Sahn, Gold Mountain, in Cantonese thlee yip (fourth dialect), is another Chinese name for the United States of America.
**Fah Kee Gwok in Cantonese thlee yip (fourth dialect) means Land of the Flowery Flag, one of several Chinese names for the United States of America.
First published in Dreaming of Glistening Pomelos.
Flo Oy Wong—artist, poet, educator—is a co-founder of the Asian American Women Artists Association (AAWAA). She began her art career at the age of forty. As an artist she received three National Endowment for the Arts awards. She started her poetry career at the age of seventy-five. Her parents were immigrants from China who were impacted by the 1882 Chinese Exclusion Act. She stands with immigrants.
“Gosei - Fifth Generation Japanese American” by Lauren Ito
Chasing
Tattered tails of kimono silk
The crisp bow of an obi
A language that fell from our mouths as bombs fell like rain over Hiroshima
Whiteness
Did we quench your thirst?
Our ashes glaze your teacups
Mons steep in a dashi brewed from flakes of crackling skin
Excavating
A kanji-inscribed inheritance
My grandfather’s sighs wheeze of Internment Camp dust
Slivers of polished sea glass rolling from shore to shore in a sea of tears.
Lauren Ito is a Gosei (fifth generation Japanese American) poet, photographer,
designer, and community craftswoman from an island outside Seattle who now
calls San Francisco home. Her writing draws from the diasporic experiences of
Japanese Americans, exploring themes of inheritance, identity, and redefining
home. Her work has been featured by the Seattle Times, Bay Area Generations,
National Japanese American Historical Society, Japanese American Citizens
League, Gears Turning, and Mission Arts Performance Project.
Choppy Oshiro is a graphic designer who grew up in Hawaii and moved to San Francisco, earning a BFA from the Academy of Art. She complements her passion for creating art around community and social justice issues by providing design and photojournalism services for Oakland-based California Nurses Association/National Nurses United, and has served on the board of directors for Kearny Street Workshop. Her artwork is created with cut-paper techniques based on katagami (Japanese textile stenciling). www.creativehotlist.com/coshiro2
