"hokkaido" poems
I think in Japanese,
write down my thoughts in English,
then twist it all back into sushi:
a tasty bite to eat.
My mind is like origami
folding thoughts into meditation;
meditation unfolds
into a crisp sheet of city lights.
I love you big much,
love you big time;
I love the way you giggle nervously.
Titter-titter,
"Tee-hee-hee!"
It must be amazing to find everything so funny.
Big city, sake sunset;
a karaoke moon rises
over a robotic, neon inception.
(transmutation)
Transformers, Transformers:
autobotic-neurotic Bumblebee
comes to the aid of Samurai Prime.
"Autobots, transform!!"
Bored of the bright lights?
Weary of the snappy-happy gaijin
doing photo-photo
while they look for a sweet sakura-panpan?
Then take a leisurely stroll up to Hokkaido,
where there's less sucky-sucky,
and more bow-down-low-austerity
alongside the 108 gongs a-bonging.
Chant a few prayers,
speak with the sacred cedars,
take a dip in the hot springs
with some smiling monkeys,
and watch snow fall, together.
Nippon, you offer everything.
I can eat 20 times a day
without gaining a pound.
There's always more room
for miso, chanko nabe, shabu-shabu,
gyozo, okonomiyaki—
I am going to stop writing this list
so that I don't drown in my saliva.
I refuse to look back,
refuse to go back to the boredom
of white picket fences and hamburger dreams;
I want to stay here forever.
I love you big much,
love you big time;
totemo ureshii da.
March 1st, 2012
Mar 9, 2012
Mar 9, 2012 at 10:17 AM UTC
What did you say, sugar?
I had only been in Oubari a week or so
Sent to the store for sugar
I was a bit nervous, not scared…
I had been to the local market in this village
High in the mountains of Hokkaido before,
Always with someone who knew some Japanese,
This time, I was alone…
I loved going into this market, it had everything you would ever need to
Live high in the mountains, in a closed down coal mining village
The smells of food, oil, machinery, everything was wonderful…
So I bought the sugar after a real search,
And some help, from a kind elderly man,
I took my sugar home, feeling real good about my venture
But, it was salt,
Do you understand everything, I sure don’t….
Jun 16, 2015
Jun 16, 2015 at 4:14 PM UTC
I’m so homesick. I miss the sound of the language, the feel of it…I miss the adventure, the beauty, the kindness, the presence of belonging. I miss long city walks at night, when the skyscrapers could be seen for miles and throw lights on the pavement. I miss the subway, the simplicity of walking from one place to another and watching the city whip past me as I stand, humming quietly as the rail tracks bump underneath my feet. I miss the feel of the language reverberate on my tongue and hear it chiming in my ears. I miss the generosity and rich culture. I miss the humility and simplicity; the ambition and indisputable threshold for righteousness. I miss the strength, the willingness of an ear, patience of an oak tree and the composure of respect. I miss the jagged horizons of mountains loom with calming familiarity with spectacular array of greens; and I miss the way the sky flower into a spectacular shade of pink at the break of dawn, speckled with yellow and deep orange. I miss gazing at the ocean, admiring the restlessness and salty wilderness I find inexplicable. I haven’t seen the sea in over a year…I used to see it almost everyday. I miss the delicacies, the delicious combination of rice, fish, vegetables, and more. I miss the mesmerizing subtleties in the culture, in the system and way of life which proves to be far from perfect, yet which is one I belong in. I miss Japan…Tokyo, Yokohama, Iwakuni, Aomori, Hokkaido, everywhere. I miss my home.
Mar 24, 2016
Mar 24, 2016 at 10:15 PM UTC
Gazing across verdant moss carpets
And hills cut gently by the rail bridge,
A traveler paints on a platform
Undisclosed, watching the bright cove fan,
Unscaleable, into fjorded mounts.
Brush bristles blot confident masses,
Humming while the thinner brush defines,
But how can they capture in one stroke
The place where foam-film ends abruptly
And gives way to stillwater mirrors?
Or that distant rim, broad and exposed,
Where sea and sky blend and lift islands,
And white clouds roll on forevermore?
Jun 1, 2019
Jun 1, 2019 at 12:01 PM UTC
Take me back to Hokkaido:
The streets encased in white,
The crumbling beneath our feet
As we traverse this region
Seeking peace, found in all directions.
Take me back to Hakodate:
A particular bliss can be found,
In the healthy spring,
Whilst we wander naked in the snow,
Bathing in the deepest of seas.
Take me back to Sapporo:
A quiet, yet bustling city,
Touches of silence paired with serenity,
Glimpses of modern paired with old,
Giving us the chance to find ourselves again.
Take me back there with you:
Eyes looking forward into the distance.
Our selfishness brings us together,
Yet our selfishness will tear us apart.
Yet we still adore each other.
Sep 28, 2016
Sep 28, 2016 at 6:00 AM UTC
Power flexes
downward:
a hulking, indifferent
appendage
obscene in its
obviousness,
but the obviousness is the
point,
you remind
me.
This latest one was only twenty-
six
and seemingly healthy, but no
matter—
in Hokkaido by now the
larches
have all dropped their
needles,
and the fumaroles of Mount
Asahidake
still hiss, even while
covered
in heaps of snow. I wish
that
you could take me there. I
wish
that we could set
off
into that pale oblivion and never
return,
immersed for the rest of our
days
in the frigid, accurate
waters
of Nature’s
reality.
But she has no dominion
here,
you remind
me,
and we are all just tourists in this place
anyhow,
sidling beneath cornices and sidestepping
crevasses
aslope an angry volcano in
winter,
that warm, glowing lodge at its
foot
seemingly never
drawing
any
closer.
Dec 14, 2024
Dec 14, 2024 at 11:51 AM UTC