Troy Osaki

Poet, Organizer, & Attorney

[Troy Osaki @troyosaki]

Been learning, deeply, about just and lasting peace and how peace isn’t only the absence of guns and violence but also having enough food, housing, healthcare, and education for all people. I believe, wholeheartedly, a people's war is just if it’s fighting for a people's peace.

[Troy Osaki @troyosaki]

Found my great-grandpa’s arrest record from when he was incarcerated during the war. Been writing about it since. Thank you, @IndianaReview, for including this piece in your summer issue.

[Troy Osaki @troyosaki]

New poem in @SeattleMet. Been visiting the Northwest ICE Processing Center every week. Thinking about my family’s connection to detention and family separation. Thinking about all the people who are detained and separated from their families today. Here to fight alongside them.

[Troy Osaki @troyosaki]

“I’m interested in the poetics of loserdom. Most of history is filled with people who are stuck. Stuck in communities they can’t get out of, or maybe they don’t want to get out of. I’m interested in turning traditional sights of loserdom into innovative sights of dignity.”

[Troy Osaki @troyosaki]

Grateful to announce I’m a 2025 Artist Trust Fellowship recipient. Thank you to my grandparents for sharing our family’s stories with me, again and again, and to @artisttrust for their continued support. If you’ve ever read my work, thank you. Excited to share more soon.

[Troy Osaki @troyosaki]

“If you are really good at hurting black people, you will indeed hurt the environment, I promise you.

If you are really good at hurting women, you’re probably also interested in war—I promise you.”

—Jericho Brown

[Troy Osaki @troyosaki]

Friends, I’m levitating. The Gate of Memory: Poems by Descendants of Nikkei Wartime Incarceration (@haymarketbooks) is now available. The collection features 66 descendants of people incarcerated during WWII. I’m deeply grateful to be one of them.

[Troy Osaki @troyosaki]

We’re mobilizing for Lewelyn Dixon and all migrants in detention.

Aunty Lynn is a green card holder and has lived here for over 50 years. Like countless migrants, she’s part of our community, and we won’t let her fight alone.

Join us at the Northwest Detention Center from 1-3p!

[Troy Osaki @troyosaki]

Movement lawyering goes beyond individual cases. It explains the social context and how the state uses the law as a weapon. Being a lawyer in the movement means going outside the courtroom. It means connecting, deeply, with social movements.

[Troy Osaki @troyosaki]

“You have more rights than the undocumented:
I need a permit to uproot you.
Ofelia believes only rain can touch all of you.”

—@EduardoCCorral

[Troy Osaki @troyosaki]

New poem in @adroitjournal. Writing deeper into my grandma’s incarceration during WWII––her family's forced separation.

Today, the administration is ordering mass arrests, mass deportation, and, once again, separating families.

These anti-migrant and inhumane policies must end!

[Troy Osaki @troyosaki]

This poem like many of Nâzim Hikmet’s poems is the kind I sing in the dark.

[Troy Osaki @troyosaki]

✨ WE THE GATHERED HEAT: Asian American and Pacific Islander Poetry, Performance, and Spoken Word (@haymarketbooks) is out in the world ✨ Grateful to be alongside poets who are full of endless light. Thank you to the editors for bringing us together.

[Troy Osaki @troyosaki]

Thank you also to the human rights advocates and land defenders I learned from at @tribunalph2024 who continue to fight against foreign domination of our land and government corruption. This poem is for them and our people overseas. We’ll finish the revolution, and we’ll win!

[Troy Osaki @troyosaki]

Collaborated with the wonderful @FryeArtMuseum, one of my favorite (free!) museums in Seattle ✨ Wrote this poem in response to @stephaniesyjuco’s summer exhibit, “After/Images.” Thank you to her and @fanhs_seattle for documenting the deep history of Filipinos in the U.S.

[The Missouri Review @Missouri_Review]

“Here, My Beloved” by Troy Osaki is our Poem of the Week.

Read the poem and the artist's statement here:
https://t.co/vDlYOt46bH

[Troy Osaki @troyosaki]

My poem, “Here, My Beloved,” is featured as @Missouri_Review’s Poem of the Week. In the fewest words possible, @jofaaar is my beloved the way the PH is my home country. Thank you to the editors for uplifting the names of our martyrs. Thank you to anyone who reads them out loud.

[Troy Osaki @troyosaki]

It’s PH Independence Day but the PH isn’t independent. The US plunders our resources, exploits our people, and uses our islands as a launching pad against rivals. The only thing to celebrate is our fight against imperialism. The only thing to celebrate is our people's movement.

[Troy Osaki @troyosaki]

I’m heartbroken that Kundiman, an organization named after Filipino resistance, would silence and repress its staff for voicing their support for the courageous people of Palestine. Thank you, Cathy, dearly, for all you've done. We won’t allow this to go unnoticed.

[Kundiman Community @KundimanUnity]

On June 4, Cathy Linh Che, Executive Director of @kundimanforever, was fired after serving Kundiman as Executive Director and staff member for 12 years.

[Troy Osaki @troyosaki]

There’s no peace without justice, and the U.S-Duterte and U.S.-Marcos regimes have been found guilty of war crimes and crimes against humanity by the Filipino people. We’ll hold them accountable by continuing to organize. Makibaka! Huwag Matakot!

#katarunganIPT2024

[Kundiman @kundimanforever]

"We stand on a mountain in Mindanao. We live closest to the stars
we ever have. At night, we bike to the moon, its cratered land."

—@troyosaki, 'Our Archipelago,' in @theoffingmag x Kundiman 20th Anniversary Poetry Portfolio

https://t.co/LpyMZrvFiF