Inside the Pearl

INSIDE THE PEARL
by Jude Neale
Guernica Editions, (Essential Poets series)
Available September 21, 2021

Preface

I first became aware of Joy Kogawa when I read Obasan. This was her account of internment in Canada, because she is a Canadian of Japanese heritage, in and beyond the Second World War.

The novel opened my eyes to injustice, betrayal, and loss. Impossible truths to a young, white, privileged woman.

Joy moved me to do better. To think critically and try in my own way to act out of love.

This book, Inside the Pearl, was created inside the space Joy loved, and the poems rose out of my propensity for intense scrutiny and rampant curiosity. I took hundreds of pictures and wrote close to sixty haiku inspired imagistic poems during my time there. I decided to document it, inside and out. I was an archaeologist of the half remembered. I pulled things out of drawers, looked in corners, even opened suitcases.

Opened suitcases! To my wonder and disbelief, I had unearthed the few things the family had taken to the Slocan. A precious blanket. Beloved doll dresses. Well worn books. A toy car. I was gifted with insight into the extraordinary times that Joy Kogawa lived. That picture became the backbone of this book which is why I chose it for my cover. It spoke of displacement and loss and endings.

I hope that both my written images and Paul Hooson’s photographs in this volume shine a light on the many small things that make a home. Notes scrawled, white curtains blowing in the breeze, or the comfort of a feather bed.

Inside the Pearl speaks of simple things and presents like snapshots, another time on the page.

My gratitude to Joy Kogawa for creating a bridge to truth for all peoples through her exceptional writing and quiet, gentle strength.

Jude Neale