East (housemaid) meets West (rowdy boy)

33. Miekosan One





Miekosan—I
Tortured her every day she
Worked, trying to tame
My wild heart, tempestuous
Mind—cried me to shame.

Let lying dogs sleep.

32.



Dog on chain, sleeping:
We—child eyes skyward, chasing
The swirling above
Of vultures—ran into the chain—
Rousing the dog to fury.

Butterfly Soul Collection

31.



Like little spirits that
Dennis had pinned in his thrall,
Lepidoptera
Stuck to the back of his case:
Shells of once live anima.

For What I Am Thankful

For What Am I Thankful?

I am thankful for the parents I had, for they set me on a path that is morally and ethically valuable.


I am thankful for the words of Jesus Christ and the Buddha, which have taught me the purpose of life and confirmed my moral and ethical choices.

I am thankful for having been born in the 20th century, which although frightening and disturbing at times, opened the world of democratic enlightenment to many more people and gave them hope.

I am thankful for having been born in the United States of America, which in the 20th century was primarily responsible for the great democratic enlightenment that opened the world to many more people and gave them hope.

I am thankful for my parents’ generation, which was primarily responsible for the great democratic enlightenment that opened the world to many more people and gave them hope.

I am thankful for my generation, which took hold of the democratic enlightenment and invited more people in, not only through expanding civil liberties and human rights to all races and genders, but for the new global, electronic technology that invited the entire world to participate and enjoy the democratic enlightenment.

May peace be with us all.

childish foolishness

30.



My sprained arm was the
Result of clambering up
And through the matrix
Of wooden bleachers, hurry-
Ing past infant delusions.

brash crasher

29.





Jeff Majors’ bicycle
Was bigger, faster than mine.
I threw mine his way:
An ambulance took his wound
Wound—in trouble again: me.

experimental tickling

28.



Billy James, subject
Of vile experimentation,
Laughed out loudly when tickled.
So I tickled him
Until he cried—excessive.

violent mutilation

27.



Outside American
Village, someone threw acid
Into another person’s face.
Was it from politics? Or
Mysterious emotions?

Shooting Life Saver

26.



June, I thought you brave
And noble as you punctured
Your skin each day, a
Short, thin needle injecting
What your body could not make.

Diabetic type 1

25.



June, you made me stop
Eating sweets before I had
Truly begun. Why did you
Get the disease when I skipped
Free like a lucky kid goat?

Note: The reader may recall that my sister had been extremely ill during the crossing of the Pacific Ocean.  Eight months after our family had arrived in Japan, she was diagnosed with type 1 diabetes.  New evidence indicates that a traumatic event can ignite diabetes if one has the genetic disposition for it.  I believe now that the extreme seasickness that she experienced for those several weeks was the trigger that set off the disease. As a precaution, I underwent the same tests, but I had not contracted the disease (nor had I experienced the seasickness that my sister had).
 
My grandson has type 1 diabetes, and he was diagnosed with it subsequent to the divorce of his mother and father.  Could extreme emotional distress trigger the disease?

And again

24.



Kathy Haberman, you
Were always just out of reach
Everywhere I went,
Exiting just after I
Entered just before you left.

First love

23.



Kathy Haberman, you
Were my first love, you stirred up
All the bent rhythms
Of my yearnings for permanence,
Following you around Earth.