Stories With A Heartbeat

George Yamazawa uses spoken word poetry to address personal conflicts and inner struggles. Yamazawa is a National Poetry Slam Champion and his writing is deeply tied to his Japanese-American heritage. In this episode of Stories with a Heartbeat , host Will McInerney talks with poet George "G" Yamazawa , and we hear a poem by G about a conflict involving language, identity, and his father's accent. In his poem, “The Bridge” (which recently went viral ) G reflects on his frustrations and fears about not being able to fully communicate in his parent’s native tongue, Japanese. “I love being American.” G says, “But the thought of your language being lost is something I’ve worried about and something that makes me feel disconnected.” In the poem, G explores his father’s Japanese accent as a reminder of his own internal struggles with language and identity in America. "The accent is the mark of an immigrant. It's a ruler with mile-long increments that measures the distance away from home." In