Monday, August 10, 2020

A Gloomy Farewell

the shrill, strident signal screaming

in my ears striving to shatter

my eardrums a typical start to 

a new day hearing my bones crack

and creak insisting I vacate my bed

my mind murmuring to me

keep your eyelids sealed

downing my cold morning medicine

a chloroform to silence the murmur

I force myself to bid a gloomy farewell

to my warm blankets who had wrapped

me in comfort through the night



by Sakura Ishadoh

Going and Coming

my mom made in May
macaroni and cheese to
fatten me up and, as she said,
to layer my bones with meat

were i a seabird of prey
living above the ocean,
flying across the vast blue 
I would return to Okinawa
the green salty diamond
of the Pacific to tell the
next generation the fat will
be passed down forever
with our love for all those
who follow


by Asaka Gima

Thursday, January 30, 2020

A Childhood

she likes flowers 
she says 
she sees my color
so bright 
that i have many
vivid hues
sparkling like light
on a rainbow
after a downpour

she likes roses
she says
she doesn’t like thorns
when the storms
of life are coming 
and she cares
too much about them 
but I ignore them
like they never happened
like storms don’t visit our house.

she becomes increasingly
vulnerable as flowers do too 
i still ignore them

I awakened
with a start
they walked away 
from our garden
i laid tears in bed all night

by Naka Nono

30 Phrases

looking completely
terrified the brave
young lady and
her hungry young man
were on the run 

hands, shaking
close friends arrested and
executed for their beliefs 
but we were not left
to die alone in prison,
with no blood and pain.

war put their friendship right
and peace with an outcome
of courage put to the test
retained with a good night’s sleep
lonely was she when she did not 
have someone in her life. 

others reflected her emotional
feeling and hope was her
greatest gift when she 
faced life’s hardest battles 
that helped us settle 
our disagreements
on a tiny battery-powered 
transistor radio

     by Rika Kishaba 

LIke a Dream


I stand on the ground
and see a girl before me crying 
we were racing around, playing 
and I took her off to her teacher 
after a while we would run around
again smiling 
in the long haul we are running with
many many friends
I remember that experience 
like a vivid dream

by Ayari Taira

Beautiful Place



there are sounds still  
even when I close
my eyes I can hear
them there in the sand 
white and shining where 
there is a whole world 
of creatures always changing 
moving, living in the small
homes where I feel and see them
beneath me on the beach

by Ayari Taira

A Special Place



sparing time
between classes
i venture to the rooftop

on a sunny day
i lie on the ground
hear the songs of birds in trees
and feel the comfortable wind
on a rainy day
i go to the limit of the roof
and hear the soft sound of rain

the roof is a wonderful
place where I become
alone and can face myself
calmly

                by Yuka Kinjo