Poems by Margaret Chula
Quilts by Cathy Erickson

The quilts and poems in What Remains are visual/poetic stories. Each one speaks in the voice of a Japanese American imprisoned during World War II. The poem What Remains tells how an old woman stitched her memories of home into a quilt that she handed down to her daughter and then her granddaughter. Shikata ga nai, written in the voice of a young woman at Gila River, Arizona, expresses the futility of anger or protest. Over the Moon takes the form of a schoolboy's letter to his American friend describing life in the camp. In Equilibrium a husband/father uses his capentry skills to bring some physical and psychological comfort to his family. Boxes, written in the Japanese form haibun (prose and haiku), tells about a young girl first burying her doll in her back yard and then her grandfather at the internment camp. In Dear Diary, a woman obsesses over her wedding plates that she smashed rather than sell to a pawnbroker. Jitterbug takes on the beat of swing lyrics to show a dancer torn between the traditions of Japan and the lure of the jitterbug. In Nickel Snakes, a resourceful boy captures reptiles and insects from the desert and charges his friends to play with them. Afterimage tells about a Hood River farmer who creates beauty by designing a sand and stone garden at Minidoka.

Finally, quilt and poem converge with a series of poems placed directly onto the quilt. Designed to represent a shoji door, the quilt features photographs of people from the camps, with tanka placed next to them inside the rectangular spaces. Voices From the Shoji is a fitting conclusion to this project, a true collaboration of artist and poet working side by side.