"Tony Wallin Sato is indeed one of the young contemporary poets for whom Whitman has stopped somewhere and happily waited." -Bill Mohr A collection of Zen infused poetry reflecting on the author's experience with incarceration and his encounters with others in the carceral state. What imprisons us, and what makes us free is a theme that runs like a wild river through the poems and prose of this collection. "Okaerinasai" which roughly translates as "welcome back home" weaves together Wallin-Sato's adventures as a young Japanese-American in California struggling with addiction to his redemptive adult work as a "re-entry" advocate for the formerly incarcerated. A series of riveting accounts of "gate pickups" when the author and his network greet former prisoners in their first hours of freedom, form a cinematic backdrop to meditations on Dogen's Zen teachings and lyric reflections on the wilderness of California's North Coast. The confined and the limitless, play differing chords in Wallin-Sato's poetry, infused in equal parts with the transcendence of the natural world and the injustice of our urban streets. Echos of Basho, and Bukowski sound through the work, with a powerful breadth of language that remains at its heart a fierce reparation for all that is false and broken. "Work hard. Accomplish nothing," is one of the primary instructions Tony Wallin-Sato receives in a brief residency at a Zen temple. With poignant detail and relentless compassion, Wallin-Sato devotes himself to the fulfillment of that koan in this book-length sequence of poems, in which his stitching of "breath in (and) breath out" empowers the process of self-liberation. Intermingling prose poems with diaristic meditations that recount his sojourns into Northern California wilderness, Tony Wallin-Sato is indeed one of the young contemporary poets for whom Whitman has stopped somewhere and happily waited. What's different about Wallin-Sato's endeavor is that Whitman is likely to dissolve into the crowd of those who admire the transformational poetics enacted in this book as much as I do. Who touches this touches the travails and triumphs of dhamra. - Bill Mohr, author of Holdouts: The Los Angeles Poetry Renaissance 1948-1992 Hard to put this book down, it zips along through places, times, in jails and out, sitting in zendos, walking on trails, riding the rails, stalking the streets. Through strings of haiku, quotations from Dogen, and dead-on descriptions in prose and verse reminiscent of Kerouac and Bukowski, Tony Koji Wallin Sato's Okaerinasai weaves a matter-of-fact vision of open-eyed survival in a brutally crazy world. -Norman Fischer, Founder and Spiritual Director of Everyday Zen, and author of Men in Suits: A Poem Is poetry mindfulness? Is presence repair? Is meditation creative? Is solitude social? When I read Tony Wallin-Sato's poetry, yes, yes, yes, and yes. I can feel, in his poetry, the wind; I mean, on my skin. I can hear the sounds of where he was writing and of where and what and who he was writing about. Everyone and everything is clear, because his poetry-loving attention / being faithful to experience and to others-is the act of clearing the mind, in preparation for returning. The title alone makes me cry. Please come home, says Okaerinasai. You made it home, you are home, welcome home. -Brandon Shimoda, author of The Afterlife Is Letting Go "As always, Mr. Wallin-Sato's work brings fresh appreciation to the world we strive in and the workings of our hearts' sustenance in that world- his poetry reaches deep and reveals for the reader a golden light in the mind." - Jimmy Santiago Baca, Poet and winner of the American Book Award, Pushcart Prize, International Hispanic Heritage Award, and International Award, his most recent book is The Misfits Tony Wallin-Sato was born to Japanese parents near Monterey, California. Incarcerated as a youth, Wallin-Sato now works with formerly and currently incarcerated students at Cal State Long Beach Project Rebound. He is also a lecturer in the Critical Race Gender and Sexuality Studies department at Cal Poly Humboldt and facilitates programming for youth and adult facilities. His chapbook of poems, Hyouhakusha: Desolate Travels of a Junkie on the Road, was published in 2021 through Cold River Press. Bamboo on the Tracks: Sakura Snow and Colt Peacemaker (Finishing Line Press) was selected by John Yau for the 2022 Robert Creeley Memorial Award.