This month, The Personhood Project welcomes poet James Fujinami Moore to speak with our host, Aaron Tyler Hand. In this episode, the two discuss Moore's debut collection, Indecent Hours, from Four Way Books. Additionally, they speak on reflections of violence within our culture and how being a firsthand witness to violence can change us. Moore speaks on the power of poetry to deal with ambiguity and uncertainty, as well as the ways poetry can help one break through mental loops.
James Fujinami Moore:
I like poetry because it doesn’t have to have an answer. Poetry deals with ambiguity better than any other medium.
Poems:
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Whether I can’t see or feel
but only hear and smell
we are stuck n a room all day
as we wait for that tapping
on the windowsill from the
sweet smelling rain. Rain
we can only smell through
vents in the ceiling. I like
to close my eyes and pretend
I’m home. While thunder
rumbles and rain pours. It frees
me for a little while and the
sun comes back and the
clouds roll away. I wait
for the rain to come another day.
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Brrrrr - cold
not really
wishful thinking
Try anything
to trick my mind
to believe its not hot
so hot
can’t believe
hard to breathe
the end is near
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here in hays kounty
it’s extremely kold
during the days
we ask for the air
off & the guards tell
us no. sometimes it
gets to hot & we
lay in bed with our
bras & shorts to kool
off
Mountains
Walkin to work
in snow above your knees
Slipping and sliding on the
ice along the way
The snow melts into
a lovely little creek or spring
Flowers bloom and blossom
sprinkled into the fields
and forests
Sitting in the hot summer days
in the sprinkler, fighting the sun.
Minnesota
It gets so cold it hurts my face
from house to car to store I race
I pray for weather warm to come
but moved to Texas – I’m not dumb.
The Change of Weather
While sitting in the back seat –
handcuffed and shackled –
Heading the direction
of the start of an almost home –
Sat in a dog pound
4 hours – weather shifting
As I walk in a dorm – white
is the color, huge fans blowing
Sweating everywhere –
Baths – Constantly –
This is just the beginning
But it shall pass –
Soon home
Homeless in Snow
You lie in one spot buried with blankets
trying not to move
when you awake and come out it's like a
fairy tale with sheets of white snow
as white as a dove but colder than
iced hell.
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Sitting in the driver seat
I go go go
looking back reaching to tickle
my son’s feet.
He doesn’t know mom’s
poor.
Stopping at the store down
the street
it feels as if we can’t go
any
more.
Mommy gets her son out
of the carseat, he’s happy full
of joy.
Cold AC from the time we hit
the door getting a spray bottle.
Pour the water in and
drink, then we can spray spray spray
on the go.
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one two three four
I’m stuck behind these doors
and when night falls
I’m inside these walls
I toss and I turn in my bed
I can’t sleep so I pray
for got to
be
with me
another day sun is out
I’m still here behind
these doors
Get Ready to Burn
This year is gonna be a hot summer. Get ready
to burn. Every day we at the pool. Every day
police lights. No fire trucks. Too many people
in the house can cause el Nino. Two bedrooms
nine people. Sleep with the freezer open
the food will be okay. Ice cream saved up
only until the last scoop.
Writing Prompts:
James Fujinami Moore uses his poem “in El Nino” to speak on what it is like to survive the summer heat. Ending with the line “promising / it’d never be this hot again”, it hints that the poem is also used as a commentary on climate change and unrelenting heat that comes along with it. With this in mind, share what extreme weather conditions mean for you. How do you maintain yourself during bouts of extreme heat or extreme cold? What worries do you have about future extreme weather?