{"id":307495,"date":"2026-03-11T07:10:00","date_gmt":"2026-03-11T11:10:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/electricliterature.com\/?p=307495"},"modified":"2026-03-11T11:26:31","modified_gmt":"2026-03-11T15:26:31","slug":"three-poems-by-troy-osaki","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/electricliterature.com\/three-poems-by-troy-osaki\/","title":{"rendered":"Human Dignity Is Contraband in This Camp"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<h4 class=\"wp-block-heading\">In January, the Pond Freezes<\/h4>\n\n\n\n<pre class=\"wp-block-preformatted\">I look at the cold floor. <br>Tap my loafer on top. <br>It holds.<br>I slide to the middle <br>and laugh. A horse <br>made of fog runs <br>out of my face.<br>The ice is the kind you find <br>in Antarctica. We walk back.<br>Satoru and I take turns standing <br>next to the potbelly stove.<br>I flip through a Sears catalog\u2014 <br>look for ice skates. I want to slice <br>the frozen water. I want to glide <br>so fast I become snow.<br>I want to glide so fast <br>I open a portal<br>to the future.<br>The war has ended.<br>I open a portal <br>and see dad.<br>His handcuffs<br>become a butterfly <br>he rests<br>on his finger.<br>Wind chills my cheeks.<br>I look up<br>and at the door,<br>a guard. His nightly headcount. <br>His eyes, a pair of searchlights <br>burning<br>against our faces.<\/pre>\n\n\n\n<div style=\"height:100px\" aria-hidden=\"true\" class=\"wp-block-spacer\"><\/div>\n\n\n\n<h4 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Our Piano, Missing<\/h4>\n\n\n\n<pre class=\"wp-block-preformatted\">It\u2019s in a warehouse.\tLost.<br><br>      Guarded by tigers or a moat <br><br>of piranhas. I don\u2019t know.<br><br>      We couldn\u2019t lug it to camp.<br><br>It weighed as much<br><br>      as a small sky. <br><br>At night, I still hear it.<br><br>      The sound of a wedding,<br><br>a tangerine peeled in glorious heat.<br><br>      This country can\u2019t make me <br><br>forget. Every song<br><br>      has a memory.<br><br>I lay in an army cot<br><br>      and smell a tuxedo.<br><br>I press an F chord into my thigh.<br><br>      Hum the note.<br><\/pre>\n\n\n\n<div style=\"height:100px\" aria-hidden=\"true\" class=\"wp-block-spacer\"><\/div>\n\n\n\n<h4 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Of Neighbors in Camp<\/h4>\n\n\n\n<pre class=\"wp-block-preformatted\">The grown-ups on our block look for their ghost lawnmowers, <br><br>but I\u2019ve known you, Fusae, since before the war<br><br>Before I saw your wet hair freeze in January air, stepping out of the shower <br><br>Your mother\u2019s voice sounds like bees through barrack walls<br><br>I\u2019m glad you\u2019re here<br><br>We sit by the fence under a glint of moonlight, <br><br>bury the last of our baby teeth<\/pre>\n\n\n\n<div style=\"height:100px\" aria-hidden=\"true\" class=\"wp-block-spacer\"><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>In January, the Pond Freezes I look at the cold floor. Tap my loafer on top. It holds.I slide to the middle and laugh. A horse made of fog runs out of my face.The ice is the kind you find in Antarctica. We walk back.Satoru and I take turns standing next to the potbelly stove.I [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1546,"featured_media":307499,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[5557,5966,5561],"tags":[5665,178,91,777,2336,6106,5687],"class_list":["post-307495","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-lit-mags","category-poetry","category-the-commuter","tag-american-identity","tag-family","tag-japanese","tag-prison","tag-surveillance","tag-trauma","tag-violent-conflict"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v25.8 - 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