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Sachiko Murakami's poems respond to the out-of-time, out-of-place environments of airports, using the crowd-sourced observations of weary travelers as inspiration.
About the author
Sachiko Murakami is the author of the poetry collections The Invisibility Exhibit (Talonbooks, 2008), a finalist for the Governor General's Literary Award and the Gerald Lampert Memorial Award, Rebuild (Talonbooks, 2011), and Get Me Out of Here (Talonbooks, 2015). She has worked for various Canadian presses, journals, and organizations. She is the creator of the online poetry projects Project Rebuild (projectrebuild.ca), HENKO (powellstreethenko.ca), WIHTBOAM (whenihavethebodyofaman.com), and co-creator of FIGURE (figureoracle.com), an online poetry oracle, with Angela Rawlings. Her website is sachikomurakami.com.
Murakami holds an MA in English Literature and Creative Writing from Concordia University (2006). Born and raised in Vancouver, she currently lives in Toronto.
Summary
Why is it so difficult to stay present in the moment? Murakami's poems, written in response to her open call on the Internet, search airport departures and arrivals for a handhold on the fleeting present. Working within and wriggling out of the constraint of 14 lines, the poems explore how to stay when the mind is begging to leave.
Get Me Out of Here furthers Murakami’s investigations into collaboration that began with Project Rebuild, the companion website to her 2011 poetry collection Rebuild, and that continued with her online projects, HENKŌ: A Powell Street Manyway Renga and WHITBOAM. Working with the idea that poems arise out of conversation and are built by communities, Murakami continues to invite the public into her poems – to rebuild them, to help write them, and in the case of Get Me Out of Here, to provide the inspiration that is supposed to come to a poet without effort. Murakami also invited observers into the editorial process.
A companion website works with the theme of exchanging experience and inspiration.
