Recitation

In Response to Executive Order 9066 :: All Americans of Japanese Descent Must Report to Relocation Centers

Dear Sirs: Of course I'll come. I've packed my galoshes and three packets of tomato seeds. Denise calls them love apples. My father says where we're going they won't grow. I am a fourteen-year-old girl with bad spelling and a messy room. If it helps any, I will tell you I have always felt funny using chopsticks and my favorite food is hot dogs. My best friend is a white girl named Denise- we look at boys together. She sat in front of me all through grade school because of our names: O'Connor, Ozawa. I know the back of Denise's head very well. I tell her she's going bald. She tells me I copy on tests. We're best friends. I saw Denise today in Geography class. She was sitting on the other side of the room. "You're trying to start a war," she said, "giving secrets away to the Enemy. Why can't you keep your big mouth shut?" I didn't know what to say. I gave her a packet of tomato seeds and asked her to plant them for me, told her when the first tomato ripened she'd miss me. Dwight Okita

 

Before:

    This poem is the reason why I chose Okita as my poet. I love the piece for its clarity and simplicity. Though Okita is largely a confessionalist poet, this poem is written from his mother's point of view. She was interned as a young teenager, abruptly leaving her home in Fresno. Her naïve voice lends the poem a sorrowful and dry tone. There is the beginning sarcasm, "of course I'll come," and the ending confusion, "I didn't know what to say." Okita does not rely on poetry devices to shape his poem; the true power comes from the story. It is moving, but not obscure in meaning. Because this poem almost reads as a story, a progression of events, I have chosen it for my recitation.

 

After:

    Our class recitations have made me realize how important tone is for an effective delivery. For "In Response to Executive Order 9066", tone is essential to convey the feelings of Okita's mother that are subtle on paper. There is a change in mood from the fourteen-year-old girl "with bad spelling and a messy room" to the one that "didn't know what to say." Oral reading of this poem can show the voice distinction between the speaker's assurances of her own personality and her confusion with Denise's attitude. Because the poem's visual appearance on a page is no longer relevant in a recitation, vocal cues and stresses lead the changes in direction. The audience cannot see the stanzas physically separated from one another, but listening to a pause between "Why can't you keep your big mouth shut?" and "I didn't know what to say" has an equal, if not more powerful, effect. After watching these deliveries I have found that it is the reciter's responsibility to interpret and deliver a proper tone, using the visual elements on paper as hints of the poem's emotion.