yokohama - february, 2002

for Ron who cried when we left and for everyone who loves Japan...

infinite alleyways

leading to the train

we take them all

past noodle shops and

french patisseries

we stop for coffee

and petits fours

there's an obsession with french

equal to english

droll petites phrases

"all of dreams,

full of hopes"

we laugh, delirious

paper paper paper galore

it's every poet's dream

my paper maché box

is overflowing

petits cahiers

noh stickers

letter sets

tsunami prints

manga manga manga-la

i'm developing a

new mantra

learning japanese

sumimasen, sumimasen

i whiz past minicars

on a busy street

carrying the dinner fish

and off to my left

a temple, a sanctuary

a woodland path

a waterway with geese

big crows and

little sparrows

a temple, a grotto

a shallow wooden well

tao shinto buddha-mé

i know i'm in heaven

down eight floors
from the little

apartment where

our daughter-in-law

sleeps late in

her pregnancy

we cross to the daieh

hundreds of bicycles

are lined up, unlocked

no one locks anything up

we're in awe of that

the department store
is as big as a mall
and each floor is

phantasmagorical

a thousand cranes

kitties and bears

human fetishes

shoes and studded leggings

too many delicacies

to taste in the basement

flat screen tv's

not yet in vogue

yet here hanging

on every wall

a million electronics

sing in their displays

every one in kanji

the colors unimaginable

we buy a heater

for the baby

then dash off to denny's

to scour the menu

even denny's

is special here

the night is cold

the wind is blowing

the rain may turn

to snow

the night is long

my daughter-in-law is

moaning for her

mother in bohol

i comfort her

the best i can

she takes the

epideral and

sleeps unfettered

we cat nap

and say prayers to

individual gods

not quite at dawn

a baby lies

in my arms

soft black hair

orange skinned

jaundiced

it will take us

many days to

bring him home

we put him

by the window

for sunlight

we anguish, thinking

in only a few days

we will have

to leave them

have to leave

these treasures

we try to change

our tickets but

cannot

we've only touched

the surface

shiny surface

fast trains

beautiful faces

everywhere we turn

sumimasen, sumimasen