In the Presence of Absence: Poets in Response to Carcerality

Come spend an afternoon with Tony Koji Wallin-Sato and Jeff Knorr. Their recent publications are in the intimate dance and response to the effects of mass incarceration. Between lived experience with the carceral system and having a loved one experiencing incarceration, their work interweaves through the broken criminal justice system and how far reaching carcerality is beyond physical walls.

Tony Koji Wallin-Sato is a multicultural Nisei writer who works with currently and formerly incarcerated students in higher education through Project Rebound. He is a lecturer in the Critical Race Gender and Sexuality Studies department at Cal Poly Humboldt and an in-prison teaching artist with the William James Association. His chapbook, Hyouhakusha: Desolate Travels of a Junkie on the Road, was published through Cold River Press and his first book of poems, Bamboo on the Tracks: Sakura Snow and Colt Peacemaker (2024, Finishing Line Press) was selected by John Yau for…