One of the relocation camps was the Gila Relocation Center at Rivers, Arizona. The camp population included 3,500 school children from kindergarten through high school. The following was reported in the
Phoenix Republic daily newspaper in mid-1942: "Although there were no desks, chairs, textbooks or blackboards - nothing but bare rooms - teachers and students have made a remarkable adjustment and are holding regular classes, making their own equipment. Painted walls are being used for blackboards, textbooks are being developed by the classes themselves, and table and chairs are being made by the vocational classes of the school."  (from http://www.sfmuseum.org/war/relocate.html)

A group of high school students from that center produced in 1945 a small mimeographed booklet of poetry, entitled Cactus Blossoms. The California Ethnic and Multicultural Archives now has a copy of that chapbook in its rare book collection [UCSB Main Lib PS591.J3 C327 1944 Special Coll]. The poem "The World" by Jessica Hoshimo was selected as the theme to decorate one of the Library Holiday Party cakes.

Since the cake will soon vanish several selections of poems by these young people are reproduced for you here; they are poignant and heartfelt and speak of faith and hope:
 

	The World by Jessica Hoshino The Light of the World shall never cease To those with heart and will The Life of Love will give us peace At Last when all is still
	Be Like the Cactus by Kimili Nagata         Let not harsh tongues, that wag in vain,         Discourage you in spite of pain         Be like the cactus, which through rain,         And storm and thunder, can remain.

The Desert Is My Home           by Tokiko Inoouye         The desert is my home;         I love its sun and sands,         I love its vastness, centuries' sleep;         It challenges, commands!         At night the cold stars crystallize,         Opalescent, free;         I exult in their ageless eyes,         Their silence envelope me.         This desert is my home,         This, the open plains         And endless sage beneath hot suns,         The sky and sudden rains.         From golden dawn to red sunset,         The desert beckons, call--         I love its freedom wilderness,         Unlimited by walls.         And this will be my home;         The desert sands I'll plod,         Far beneath its skies and stars, To be alone with God.