vendredi 2 mars 2012

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






1 commentaire:

Mawr Gorshin a dit…

Je suis déjà prête pour mes vacances en japon. Merci pour tes images! :)