Joy Kogawa

July in Coaldale

July in Coaldale
and so hot the scalp steams 
and I am curling my mother's 
fine white hair with her 
new mist curler iron 
I bought for her 
81st birthday and 
she is telling me 
of her early morning dream 
that it was Christmas and 
there was music. "I can't 
remember the song" she says 
but after a few more curls 
he is singing in Japanese 
"Joy to the World" 
somewhat out of tune 
because she is deaf now 
and her throat is dry 
but she was famous for her singing once 
and she says in her dream 
there was an old dry plant 

that started to bloom.

From Woman in the Woods, (Mosaic Press1986) 

Joy Nozomi Kogawa (1935 -) is a writer and poet. Born in Vancouver to Japanese immigrant parents, Kogawa grew up in a predominantly white, middle-class neighbourhood.
Following the bombing of Pearl Harbor, she and her family were forced into an internment camp in the British Columbia Interior. Kogawa's childhood experiences in the internment camp form the basis for her most famous book, the courageous Obasan, published in 1981 to widespread critical acclaim.

She won numerous awards for the book, which she adapted for children in 1985 under the title, Naomi's Road. After the war, Kogowa and her family re-settled in Alberta. She launched her writing career with the publication of a book of poetry, The Splintered Moon, in 1967. Kogawa went on to produce seven more books of poetry, three novels, two children's books and a recent work of non-fiction.
Kogawa is a member of the Order of Canada and the Order of British Columbia.