老司机直播

Poet Sachiko Murakami is a 老司机直播 staff member. (Photo by Johnny Guatto)

Canada鈥檚 history infuses Murakami鈥檚 poetry

老司机直播 staff member shortlisted for Governor General鈥檚 Literary Award

Canadian history isn鈥檛 a remote construct to Sachiko Murakami; it鈥檚 a very real part of her own family history, one she bravely shares in her poetry.

Murakami, the communications officer at 老司机直播鈥檚 Institute of Biomaterials and Biomedical Engineering, is the granddaughter of Japanese immigrants and the daughter of a mother who resides in Vancouver鈥檚 Downtown East Side, renowned as home to the dozens of women who disappeared from the city in the late 1990s. Robert Picton was tried and found guilty of the murder of some of these women.

鈥淚n 2003 when Pickton was arrested, I was interested in the way the story was being consumed by the people around me and in the news,鈥 she said. 鈥淚 turned the lens away from the missing women and back onto the people holding the camera.鈥

The resulting poems became a book entitled The Invisibility Exhibit, a finalist for the Governor General鈥檚 Literary Award.

鈥淢y poems don鈥檛 deal directly with the murders; they are, in part, about my relationship with my mother who lives in the Downtown East Side and really fit the profile of the women. It鈥檚 my 鈥榤om鈥 book.鈥

This month, Murakami released her second volume of poetry, Rebuild. She calls it her 鈥渄ad鈥 book. He passed away while she was writing the book, affecting its contents.

鈥淚t鈥檚 about condos and real estate with Vancouver as the site of inquiry,鈥 she said. 鈥淰ancouverites are obsessed with real estate.

鈥淢y father is Japanese-Canadian and his family had their property taken away during the [Second World] War. Problems with real estate are a huge part of our family history.鈥

Vancouver is also a dominant feature of her work to date, because she spent most of her life there, aside from a couple of years in Montreal where she earned a master鈥檚 degree in English literature and creative writing at Concordia University.

鈥淚 thought I was going to be an academic, but I decided I didn鈥檛 want to be one while I was at Concordia,鈥 she said. 鈥淚nstead, I left there feeling like a writer.鈥

She moved to Toronto in 2009 and began working at 老司机直播 earlier this year. Although she earns her living as a communications officer, her real love is teaching. This winter, she鈥檒l offer a course at the School of Continuing Studies called Engaging the Political Through Poetry.

鈥淢y writing tends towards the politicized,鈥 said Murakami, explaining that it鈥檚 a way of writing about something 鈥渂eyond just personal feelings.鈥

She will be spending much of her time this fall touring with her new poetry collection. Her contract with IBBME is part-time and she is delighted with her colleagues鈥 willingness to accommodate her poetry reading schedule.

鈥淚鈥檓 a poet in disguise when I鈥檓 at work,鈥 she said. 鈥淚t doesn鈥檛 come up in conversation.鈥

Working with scientists and their research has been a rewarding experience for her.

鈥淲hen I first walked through the Mining Building and looked at posters on the wall they were just gibberish,鈥 she said. 鈥淚t has been an interesting challenge learning the language of biomedical engineers.

鈥淚t鈥檚 really nice translating really dense language into something understandable.鈥
 

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