Greeting Neighbors

15.


We didn’t say “Good
Morning,” smile, and shake our
Neighbors’ hands. Instead--
“O hio. Go za i mas?”
And bowed to greet them.

Japanese Dress

14.



Mother bought for us all
Kimonos, obis, gatas
And fans; the gals’ were
Festive, but the guys’, somber,
Serious, dark, befitting them.

Final View Tokyo

39: Tokyo Zoo



My family stood
Serene with bound happiness—
Inside the display
Of wild trapped beasts and caged birds—
Symbolically occupied.

 
This is the last tanka based on my childhood memories.  More may come if more memories return.  
 
The photo is one of two taken at the time represented by these poems and included with them; it shows my mother and father and my older sister June and me at the Tokyo Zoo.  I believe the photo was taken by a willing Japanese citizen who was touring the zoo with his family at the same time. 
 
The other photo, which appears before the first tanka, is of my sister (before diabetes) and me on the deck of the U.S.S. Sullivan.  This photo was no doubt taken by my mother.  The ship was named after the family that lost five boys in one battle during World War Two.  They had been sailors--all serving on the same ship.
 
My sister was two years short of being a "baby boomer," but I was one of the first of my crowded generation.  As our lives progressed, I found this fact to be a dividing line of tastes and attitudes between my sister and me.

The Emperor's home

38: Imperial Palace



Someone important
Had lived inside those stone walls
Above the dark moat,
Ensconced in white carnations
Amid koto and sushi.

Spring in Japan

37: Cherry Blossoms





The white and pink glow
Plumped the trees like cotton can-
Dy while the floating
Petals wafted downward like
An exhalation d’esprit.

Visiting Buddha

36.



We marched up the steps
To where the great stone Buddha
Watched over the land.
I touched its giant gray knee—
And it seemed to look at me.

honored boy

35: Boys Day Koinobori.




Green fish flying up
Above us over the rooftop—
Not inverted world,
But honor for me just for
Being a snot-picking boy!

East leaves West

34.



She confused me, imp
That I was, when she married
Someone else more her
Size. Was she never to come
Back to care for the bad boy?

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.

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.

First teacher

22.



Mrs. Vanvranken –
What a revelation! – She
Whose raven hair floated
Wild! Inside my first-grade mind
I learned to love all learning.