POETRY | ANNE WHITEHOUSE
Outside From the Inside by Anne Whitehouse
From Isamu Noguchi to Man Ray, Poston War Relocation Center, May 30, 1942 Here, in the internment camp in the Arizona desert our preoccupations have shrunk to a minimum— the intense dry heat, afternoon dust storms, and the difficulty of feeding ourselves on thirty-five cents a day. Outside from the inside it seems history has taken flight and passes forever. Here time has stopped and nothing is of any consequence, nothing of any value, neither our time nor our skill. But I must remind myself, work is the conversation I have with myself, and space is supplied by the imagination. Here, there is the memory of ancient places, wind and sun, endlessness, where I came from, and where I will go. Oh, for a mountain peak, a glacier glistening in the sun. Oh, for an orange, Oh, for the sea.
Poet’s Recital
“The Isamu Noguchi Garden Museumin Long Island City, Queen, just across the East River from Manhattan, was artist Isamu Noguchi’s (1904-1988) studio during the latter part of his life, and now it is a museum and garden featuring his sculpture and other work, such as his set designs for Martha Graham’s dances. On a visit to the Noguchi Museum in February 2018, I noticed in an exhibit case a letter from Noguchi to the photographer Man Ray written in 1942, while Noguchi was in the camp. “Outside from the inside” is Noguchi’s phrase. Noguchi’s letter developed into my poem.”
CANYON VOICES
SPRING 2019