Joy Kogawa is one of the best known Japanese writers born in Canada. Joy Kogawa is known predominately for her novels but she started her career as a writer by writing and publishing poetry. The poems which are included in the collection entitled A Garden of Anchors was published in 2003 and is the latest collection of poems published by the author.
The poems in the collection are extremely personal, often told from the perspective of a first person narrator. This gives the reader the impression that he is having a conversation with the author herself while also giving it a sense of authenticity. Just like the novels written by Joy Kogawa, the poems are inspired from real life events which the author experienced.
The style of the poems is unique in the sense that each poem is built as a set of advices given by the author. The major theme in many poems is the idea that while problems may arise inevitably, there is always a way out and one should never lose hope. There are also some poems which give advice to married couples, especially to husbands, on how to be happy in a marriage and how to be content no matter the situation.
The characters in the poems are more than often unnamed, thus leaving the reader the opportunity to identify with them and even put themselves in the character’s place. The gender of the characters is not mentioned as well, meaning that both men and women could find themselves in the situations presented in the poems. The writing style is also relatively devoid of any complicated forms, making the poems easy to read and understand.
