In Memoriam: Janice Mirikitani (1941–2021)

Sadly, the week continues with more tragic news from the world of poetry. Janice Mirikitani, a groundbreaking Asian American poet, former San Francisco poet laureate, and co-founder of Glide Memorial Church (whose mission was to serve the city's homeless and poverty-stricken residents), died suddenly on July 29th at the age of 80.

While we do not have the privilege of hosting recordings of Mirikitani at PennSound, we wanted to mark the passing of such an important figure in contemporary US poetry. To do so, we gladly point our listeners to Timothy Yu's 2015 Jacket2 essay, "Engagement, Race, and Public Poetry in America," one of the finest pieces we've published in the journal. Indeed, in our editorial board's note on publishing during the Covid-19 pandemic from last April we singled out Yu's essay in an effort to "support and amplify resistant and incisive writing by Asian American poets, scholars, and critics in our institutions and communities" in the face of rising hate crimes against the Asian community, noting that his essay "explores the significance of Janice Mirikitani, Ishle Park, and Cathy Park Hong." Click here to read this poignant exploration of the evolution of Asian American poetry through a turbulent 20th century.