Yellow Light

When you think about Los Angeles, California, you may think of the glamour of Hollywood and celebrities. But did you know that Los Angeles is one of the largest and most diverse cities in the United States? There are numerous immigrants from different countries who have built communities in the city, which lends to its intrigue and vibrancy. The Japanese American poet Garrett Hongo moved from Hawaii to California at a young age. His poem "Yellow Light" (1982) uses striking imagery to illuminate the theme of diversity amidst daily working-class life in Los Angeles.

Yellow Light at a Glance

Fig. 1 ‐ The poem focuses on the imagery of light in Los Angeles.

Yellow Light Poems (1982) by Garrett Hongo: An Introduction

Yellow Light is the first poetry book written by the Japanese American poet Garrett Hongo. The poetry book is made up of 21 poems including "Yellow Light," "Cruising 99," "Who Among You Knows the Essence of Garlic?," "Roots," "Issei: First Generation Japanese American," and "Something Whispered in the Shakuhachi."

Garett Hongo's poetry collection draws upon personal experiences as an Asian American living in Los Angeles, California. His poetry is also immersed in Japanese history and the experience of his immigrant ancestors. Yellow Light highlights the great diversity of culture and landscape that characterizes California. Hongo illustrates this diversity from close perspectives of everyday life.

The title poem "Yellow Light" intricately and honestly details a working-class woman's walk home through bustling Los Angeles. Everything she passes points to the multiculturalism and diversity that defines the city.

Yellow Light: Full Poem

Below is the full poem "Yellow Light" by Garrett Hongo. While reading the poem, think about how the poet explores the theme of diversity.

Garrett Hongo uses personification to show how the city comes alive as the end of spring nears summer. The poet portrays the city as awakening from the sleepy smog of the earlier months through the personification of wisteria growing. Hongo implies that summer comes with a sense of freedom and bounty as the overgrown plants resemble a woman letting her long hair down.

Fig. 3 ‐ Wisteria is a flowering plant that is native to China, Japan, and the United States.

Imagery and Contrast

The poem "Yellow Light" is jam-packed with imagery, which reflects the crowded, busy nature of the city. The poet interestingly contrasts the imagery of Los Angeles in May versus October.

While the poet characterizes May in Los Angeles through its flowering abundance of natural life, he describes October in the city through the imagery of harsh lights, commercial billboards, "used car lots," "movie houses," and "freeways" (28, 30). The poet uses words with violent connotations, such as "seethes" and "makes war", to point to the stark contrast between the bright lights and dull infrastructure in the city (27, 32). The striking contrast that exists in the city in different seasons and even on a single night emphasizes its diversity.

Simile and Symbolism

Garrett Hongo ends the poem with a simile that contains the symbol of yellow onions and lights.

The final stanza of the poem follows:

The poet uses a simile to compare the filtered moonlight illuminating the woman's apartment to yellow onions. The yellow onions and yellow light depicted at the end of the poem symbolize Asian American experience. Onions are commonly used in Asian cuisine, and "yellow" is a term that has been used to describe East Asians based on skin color.

The yellow moonlight that filters into the woman's apartment suggests that her entire experience is tinted or colored by her ethnic heritage. Comparing this light to yellow onions implies that the visibility of her ethnicity is strong, as the smell of onions is powerful and cannot be ignored.

In western culture, onions are often viewed as pungent and offputting, even though they are extremely versatile and add flavor. In a similar way, the woman's ethnicity can be viewed as a negative thing that categorizes her and sets her apart in society, or it can be seen as a positive thing that lends diversity to life.

Fig. 4 ‐ The light that resembles yellow onions symbolizes the lens that colors Asian American experience.

Yellow Light: Themes

The poem "Yellow Light" focuses on the themes of diversity and Asian American experience.

Diversity in "Yellow Light"

The multicultural diversity in the city is emphasized from the very start of the poem as the woman carries food from various ethnic shops. She passes children of different ethnicities and walks through a Hawaiian neighborhood. Garrett Hongo paints an interesting picture of the abundance of cultures and ethnicities that come together to form a collective experience of Los Angeles.

However, it is important to notice that the cultures also remain distinctive and separate to a certain extent. The Japanese kids play battle with each other while the Mexican Americans play hopscotch together, and the wife of the Korean grocer stands out in the Hawaiian neighborhood.

Hongo highlights how cultural heritage is preserved even in a big American city. People—and even foods—continue to be defined by where they come from. This can be seen in a positive sense of maintaining cultural pride and identity, but Hongo also hints at aspects of isolation due to the distinctions and separation. At the end of the poem, Hongo portrays the quiet loneliness of the woman's apartment as "The moon then, cruising from behind / a screen of eucalyptus across the street, covers everything, everything in sight, / in a heavy light like yellow onions" (41‐44). The woman's skin color seems to "screen" and "cover" her. The poet implies that she is seen more as an Asian person than an individual human being.

The Asian American Experience in "Yellow Light"

The woman's experience is tinted by her ethnicity and everything is seen in a "Yellow Light." Her apartment has a lonely atmosphere as the moonlight shines through.

Yellow light is often perceived as softer or weaker than the white, fluorescent light that the city exudes. Hongo mentions how "a brilliant fluorescence breaks out / and makes war with the dim squares / of yellow kitchen light winking on / in all the side streets of the Barrio" (31‐34). This imagery suggests the struggle of Asian American's to be seen and heard.

The Barrio is a region of Los Angeles known for its history of Spanish-speaking immigrants. The "yellow kitchen light winking on" reflects the Asian woman's apartment. Hongo implies the isolation and unheard voice of Asian Americans through this picture of an Asian American woman living in a neighborhood where she does not fit in and the light of her apartment is dim compared to the "brilliant" white light of the city (31).

The poem ultimately conveys the message that even amidst the great diversity and multiculturalism of Los Angeles, Asian Americans struggle to be seen and heard.