Bio
Mark Toyama was a Nisei writer who published several popular works in The New Canadian prior to his early death. He was perhaps best known for his poem “powell st,” first published in The New Canadian in 1940 and then reprinted in 1942 in the midst of the Japanese Canadian community’s forced removal from that area. Toyama also contributed short stories to the paper, and was a member of the Nisei Scribbler’s Circle, a group of young aspiring writers in Vancouver from 1940-1942. During the forced removal period, Toyama lived in New Denver, where he worked as an X-Ray technician for the tuberculosis sanatorium. He passed away there in 1946.
powell st, by mark n. toyama
(transcribed from The New Canadian, Vol. III no. 20, May 15, 1940)
powell st knows
all about those
who limp, run, stagger or walk
crisscross, stop and talk
for echoes of laughter
whispers of pain
odor of burnt toast
exotic scent of chow mein
dissolve into the street in midnight rain
that’s how
powell st knows
powell st knows
and loves the light skip
of children as they trip
to school and their studies
a lovely age
when yellow and white are buddies
powell st knows
powell st knows
of a youth in a room
dark, dreary and dank
a two by four tomb
and can tell by his weakening tread
that god again forgot
his daily bread
powell st knows
powell st knows
and shudders and hates
dwellers by satan’s gates
the reeling squaw in drunked stupor falls
and tries to beat
her fists to a pulp
on the wet concrete
and sobs
powell st knows
powell st knows
it is fifth avenue
main street wall street and park avenue
serves
as the centre of a social scheme
longs to be the nucleus of a grander dream
and yet
yoshio and yaeko’s fanciful feet
truck on down a wondering street
light fantastic
to a jitterbug beat
TAGS: Literary Arts | New Canadian | new denver | Nisei
