three times in a row
the settling frost

muffled body shakes
blinds folded shut

unlocked bedroom window
moths fluttering inside

lone body breathing
with warmth of sheets

The cascading rhythm of rain
Pelting at the pavement under
The guise of the cool Saturday night
Orange glow radiating from posts
And sneakers wade through puddles
And up ahead, in the dead of the night
With lightening forking the swirling sky
A single silhouette of another chirp
Picking it's way across the humming pour
Nestled in the bushes, aloft leafy trees
Hidden from the dazzling lights
Dancer of heavens yearn for dawn
Where they can reclaim their thrones
Basking in the warmth of morning glow

a mouthful of novels
casting evasive statements
another changing feeling
an eluding ghost,
one's written pages
colliding with sentences
clashing against
of other's capsizing
paragraphs and phases
binding in and out
from another shelf,
another frayed spine
fading yellow pages
or crips, clean textures
thinking that we write
our novels alone,
my dear, how impossible
to finish such sublime material
--our own novels--
with nothing but
our syllables
what will fuel
your words,
what will lend
the structure to cover,
the world is teetering
of rippling acceleration
and moments of
seething hesitation
we all end as
books on a shelf
just make sure
your's is willing
to tell

The drowning of night
And recollection of thoughts
Like a murmur of rain
And in our breaths
the scent of pain

My mother, you see, dresses in armor
as if war waged everyday
her mind is a catapult
her expression contours
and her teeth jeers
at the end of the day she'll say, mo wakata?

sorry mother, not today

her bones juts and creaks
her body worn from strains of life
her wobbly, crooked knees strike one another
with every feeble step in strife

her cheeks cascade like eery angular cliffs
and a crow's nest of hair, wiry and black
tumbles down her head
mother, what can I do for you?

Born in Japan
and now married to a foreign land
in hands of a backwards society
who merely acts like jesting skeptics  
they treat her family as a minority
for what?

they whisper, look at her dark squinting eyes
tiny, wiry stature
and no-nonsense attitude
no, she's not cruel
she just knows better than most

but they'll never take time to look at her
or listen to her when she speaks
and at the end of the day she says , mo wakata?
I'm afraid I do not
okasan, gomennasai I say

yet grateful, I am, for the same angular eyes
wiry hair and handsome ethnicity
your iron will strives me to go farther, deeper
to explore ever crook, every
perk of what it is to be alive
I am starting to see life
with the same air of humility  

yet on those diamond occasions
when your fingernails sting of dirt
and poignant flowers barricade
the cold mess beyond
a garden of delicateness embedded in every touch
and moving with Asian maternity
stone paths weaves through
fabric of nature's vanity

her love is etched within the soil
I see her stooped body
outside my window
as she tends her garden
and at the end of the day, when she says mo wakata?

hai, mo wakata, okasaan I say

life is not a battle
but the will not to wilt away
and as you care your garden relentlessly
you were, in fact, caring for me

every flower planted in soil
no matter rain or grey smoky skies
it spreads its lovely petals
and remembers to drink in the sun
even if there is not a sun
to drink in

Swiftly.

Swiftly, the golden liquid entailed the burrowed shadows crested within the grooves of earth
The grass jeweled of impeccable brilliance
The air sighed its silvery rush, a singing river kissing the bare of my neck, my cheeks
The curves of soil swelled with intimacy
And shadows thrown upon the land spilled in grooves as inky as distant space
The sky unburdened its fury sorrow and emblazoned
A vivid turquoise, a tangible race among the heavens

And swiftly.
Swiftly I lived among the breezy bliss, the spilling of heavenly light
And the fury of the sky so clear, so blue
My feet carry me so far, so anew
I drink in the golden brilliance of the sun
And roam the beauty with a steady gaze

I breathe, I sigh,
I see, I choke
The sun smiles, its radiance spilling
And lifting the rusted film drowned from a weight
—that is, a weight I know too well—
A weight hidden within the roaming waves
A weight, washed ashore upon tempest burdened of a woman’s cowardice, isolation and fear

I see, I choke
I believe, I don’t
Swiftly, the brilliance returns to the depths of the sea
The cold brews
My breaths are sharp, short, burdened with ice
My steps fall aloof
And I fall

Shut my eyes and there is nothing I can see
Nothing to tell
Feel the earth upon timid, outstretched fingers
And nothing befalls
The wind howls, and I curl in a naked groove
Where you are
I will be, gone, gone, away
Anywhere in between, take me
Will you emblazon my world as once forth?

And as I quiver within the frozen ashes
And swim within the depths of my misery
Will thy hour come upon me?
I keep afloat yet my feet dredge
And I wonder upon the path,
Blind,
Passively

And forever, I will wait
Forever I will wait,
For that golden smile to cover me in sweet melodies
And to roam my eyes upon the emerald blades once again?

And forever, I may wonder,
Slowly,
Entranced in grace,
Quietly, silently,
Yet peak bravery, courageously
I may desire your light
But I will take my own flight.

Will you return into my arms?
Will you kiss the nape of my neck, as once before,
In a distant memory?
Nay, I say, I have grown.
I will pave my way, wield my own destiny
I will leave you
Yet cherish the memories I have gained from you
And carry my own heavenly stars
Forever in my heart.


That is my way.
And only my way.

A second degree flight
Flown caution to the winds
Heaved from the lungs I’ve blown
In case the scrapers came crashing down
Those towers, see those towers
Far into the distance
Twinkling at the murmur of dusk
Sparkling with the ray of sun bright
A second degree estimation
To the gratification swelled on my tongue
My heart is tumbling, I swear it is
Those crisscrossing lines, paved lives
Changed minds and hesitant differences
Revolving affection and careless individuality
A Clementine held snugly in my palms,
It tasted so sweet and crisp,
Like the way the sky felt
Warm and orange on my eye lids
As I listened to the shift of a new beginning

Anywhere the sly glance of fallen tapestries
Swinging restlessly in evening snare
The ringing sensation of a clinging majesty
Furrowed in miles of in-between stares

The chilly tang riveting in the air incomplete
The melting melodies of hovering lights
The echo of heels and ringing concrete
The hover of laughter caught by intoxicated sights

Skyscrapers reaching to kiss the dark woven sky
Sunsets skittering to isolated corners
As the darkness befalls to ascend in nigh
As the night comes alive with sight of starry killers

Never again will I change for anybody.

note to self

avoid laying down
my eyes begin to tire
head hang heavy
thoughts run empty
before I get
*any work done

I would like nothing more
than a chance to walk out the door
there is no turning back,
for the adventure would embark
forever more

to marvel at the yawn of dawn
as the luminescent rays of gold
streak over the earthly molds
the wind carrying the salty seas

or the fire crackling in brink of night
the stars gazing and twinkling
despite
the chilling comfort and weary feet
yet with a hand to hold into quite tight

to begin anew where no one knows my name
to catch a flight far away from here
to meet those people who travel as I do
off the beaten path, never turning back

the drawn out road
carves through the hillside
like a spoon

a landscape molded
by reduction,
impressions of

color and shape,
the shadows and cries
of sunlight

oh how the sky molds
into the nooks and crannies
how the road careens

and the hours take flight

as the sky sinks into slumber
the sun tucks itself in the crescent hills
and deep oranges speckle the black expanse

like stars set ablaze