Nominated for Best Asian American Literature Book by the Association for Asian Amerian Studies. Contains one of the most reprinted poems on the Japanese American Internment Camps, "In Response to Executive Order 9066." The poem "Notes for a Poem on Being Asian American" was reprinted in the Norton Introduction to Literature. Some poems were printed in a multicultural anthology called Unsettling America by Penguin. The book features the poet's experiences as a gay man, as a Japanese American, and as a human being. .Okita is considering recording the book in his voice as an audiobook. Publisher/author Luis J. Rodriguez has given his blessing. ."Dwight Okita is one of Chicago's great secrets. Crossing with the Light is proof that intelligent, creative, sensitive individuals are alive in our midst."-- Li-Young Lee Author of The City in Which I Love You."In the curriculum of our human experience, Dwight Okita is indeed a poet-professor, as we see in the very first poem of this compelling collection." -- John Frederick Nims Former editor of Poetry magazine."Dwight Okita's poetry possesses a nearly magical transformative power, a capacity for making the seemingly ordinary details of experience revelatory."-- Ralph J. Mills, Jr.
Okita collaborated with video director Marsha V. Morgan on the poetry video titled "Crossing with the Light" which included still photography by Jennifer Girard Studios and ambient music by Paul Winter used with the artist's permission. The video was widely covered in the media: National Public Radio, the show "Image Union" on WTTW, Fox Evening TV News, The Chicago Sun-Times, Streetwise, The Chicago Reader. It received awards from Chicago Access Network and Women in the Director's Chair.
Okita collaborated with video director Marsha V. Morgan on the poetry video titled "Crossing with the Light" which included still photography by Jennifer Girard Studios and ambient music by Paul Winter used with the artist's permission. The video was widely covered in the media: National Public Radio, the show "Image Union" on WTTW, Fox Evening TV News, The Chicago Sun-Times, Streetwise, The Chicago Reader. It received awards from Chicago Access Network and Women in the Director's Chair.