Evacuations
Published on 5. February 2026
Book
Paperback/Softback
100 pages
978-1-77212-853-6 (ISBN)
Description
With Evacuations, Kevin Irie weaves a poetic documentary for readers, capturing the personal and political histories of the Japanese-Canadian internment in British Columbia during World War II. The resulting poems oscillate between the lyric mode and techniques of erasure poetry to highlight the dehumanizing nature of public decrees and government notices. Irie deconstructs the Canadian state's racist policies, creating a record of painful memories replete with archival resonances. The collection offers a rich tapestry of historical voices, revealing the devastating effects of the internment and preserving the stories of a generation gradually slipping into silence.
Reviews / Votes
"Evacuations by Kevin Irie doesn't just take my breath away, it breathes into me with the scent of the Rocky mountains-Slocan, Bayfarm, Tashme, Lemon Creek, Sandon. It's the ongoing womb and wound, the inhaling ex-haling of our JapaneseCanadianess." Joy Kogawa, author of Obasan "For Japanese Canadians, the Second World War meant settlement, dispossession, internment and dispersal. In Evacuations, poet Kevin Irie examines this experience and uses traditional as well as innovative techniques to get at the core emotions of betrayal, grief and loss felt by many of those affected by this time in Canada's history.... "[Evacuations] is deft and well wrought ... [exposing] the hypocrisy and shameful acts of a country whose government removed and incarcerated its own citizens based on their race." Sally Ito, Canada's History, May 15, 2026 "[Kevin Irie] makes good use of the poetic forms that have become established as part of the toolkit for interrogating archival and documentary evidence-in particular, variations on what is known as 'erasure poetry.'... Other poetic forms suited to remixing historical sources include the cento and the ekphrastic poem, both of which find their way into this collection.... Irie also writes elegantly in the lyric mode. His spare, controlled stanzas address incidents of blatant racism in the present day alongside evocations of the past." Dawn Macdonald, May 24, 2026 [Full post at https://reviewsofbooksigotforfreeorcheap.substack.com/p/kevin-iries-evacuations]More details
Series
Language
English
Place of publication
Edmonton
Canada
Product notice
Paperback (trade)
Dimensions
Height: 224 mm
Width: 150 mm
Thickness: 10 mm
Weight
159 gr
ISBN-13
978-1-77212-853-6 (9781772128536)
Copyright in bibliographic data and cover images is held by Nielsen Book Services Limited or by the publishers or by their respective licensors: all rights reserved.
Schweitzer Classification
Person
Kevin Irie is a Japanese-Canadian poet whose works have been translated into Spanish, French, and Japanese. In 2024, he won Grain Magazine's poetry contest, took second prize in Prairie Fire's poetry contest, third prize in The New Quarterly's poetry contest, and had Honourable Mention in Grain's 2024 Hybrid Contest for Experimental Writing. His book, Viewing Tom Thomson: A Minority Report, was a finalist for the Acorn-Plantos People's Poetry Award and the Toronto Book Award. The Tantramar Re-Vision was picked by the CBC as one of their Spring Poetry Books in 2021. He is in The Gate of Memory: Poems by Descendants of Nikkei Wartime Incarceration (2025) and Best Canadian Poetry 2026 (2025). He lives in Toronto.
Content
On Reading Joy Kogawa
I. Of the White Man's Well Being
What I Remember (Hearing) of the Evacuation
Mottainai
Of the White Man's Well Being
Of the Workers at The Great Northern Cannery, West Vancouver
Flounders
Low Tide Under The Great Northern Cannery
The Higher the Boat... (An Alzheimer's Elegy)
Family Stories: A Powell Street Kitchen
Sandy Cove Haiku, West Vancouver, 1938
Victory Bonds for Interned Japanese-Canadians
TO MALE ENEMY ALIENS
NOTICE TO ALL PERSONS OF JAPANESE RACIAL ORIGIN
Pre-War Photos
Seizure Cento / Voice and Echo
Chattels for Interned Japanese-Canadians
Baggage for Interned Japanese-Canadians
FINAL EVACUATION REGISTRATION
Of All Persons of Japanese Origin
Tashme
Butterbur for Interned Japanese-Canadians
Coltsfoot for Interned Japanese-Canadians (Yellow Peril)
Common Burdock for Interned Japanese-Canadians
Fiddleheads for Interned Japanese-Canadians
Internment Camp, The Communal Bath House
The Autograph Book, New Denver, Summer 1943
Duckface (From an Internment School Photo)
Of the Japanese-Canadians Who Built the Trans Canada Highway
A Carving from Solsqua Road Camp, 1942
On Asking Why Japanese-Canadian Internees Never Tried to Escape
To All Persons of Japanese Racial Origin Now Resident in British Columbia
In Late 1946 Popoff Was Dismantled (13 Ways of Looking at an Internment)
East of the Rockies
Owned
II. After
R.C.M.P. File #10349 (Sonnet for A Grandmother)
Of the Internees Who Stayed In New Denver, BC
Post-War Photo: A Funeral in The Rockies
The Internet Is Our Photo Album
Donald Trump Has Asian Eyes
Departing for Pearson Airport
Post Script: A Japanese-Canadian History Map
Notes
Acknowledgments
I. Of the White Man's Well Being
What I Remember (Hearing) of the Evacuation
Mottainai
Of the White Man's Well Being
Of the Workers at The Great Northern Cannery, West Vancouver
Flounders
Low Tide Under The Great Northern Cannery
The Higher the Boat... (An Alzheimer's Elegy)
Family Stories: A Powell Street Kitchen
Sandy Cove Haiku, West Vancouver, 1938
Victory Bonds for Interned Japanese-Canadians
TO MALE ENEMY ALIENS
NOTICE TO ALL PERSONS OF JAPANESE RACIAL ORIGIN
Pre-War Photos
Seizure Cento / Voice and Echo
Chattels for Interned Japanese-Canadians
Baggage for Interned Japanese-Canadians
FINAL EVACUATION REGISTRATION
Of All Persons of Japanese Origin
Tashme
Butterbur for Interned Japanese-Canadians
Coltsfoot for Interned Japanese-Canadians (Yellow Peril)
Common Burdock for Interned Japanese-Canadians
Fiddleheads for Interned Japanese-Canadians
Internment Camp, The Communal Bath House
The Autograph Book, New Denver, Summer 1943
Duckface (From an Internment School Photo)
Of the Japanese-Canadians Who Built the Trans Canada Highway
A Carving from Solsqua Road Camp, 1942
On Asking Why Japanese-Canadian Internees Never Tried to Escape
To All Persons of Japanese Racial Origin Now Resident in British Columbia
In Late 1946 Popoff Was Dismantled (13 Ways of Looking at an Internment)
East of the Rockies
Owned
II. After
R.C.M.P. File #10349 (Sonnet for A Grandmother)
Of the Internees Who Stayed In New Denver, BC
Post-War Photo: A Funeral in The Rockies
The Internet Is Our Photo Album
Donald Trump Has Asian Eyes
Departing for Pearson Airport
Post Script: A Japanese-Canadian History Map
Notes
Acknowledgments