Gray sky seeded with doom,
Panic in the office
But it’s still bone dry.
A layer of dust
Settles everywhere day after day
Like a fog.
Morning of travel,
The household female is restless.
It’s vacation.
Chancre sore on the lip.
Cicadas’ noise.
Is it virus or summer?
Insect goo on my sole.
Without looking outside
Utsunomiya house
In yellow sunlight,
Near the cement Buddha.
Train crash
Wrappedaround a building
I know it’s already wet.
Cries like fading crickets.
Lake in Nikko
Open for swimming.
Watch out for piranha.
Caught a cold
Three weeks ago now
Amid the hayfever.
This cup of water
Has ice, to drink anytime,
Even now in spring.
Big gold shrine in the country.
Let’s take it all
And call ourselves heroes.
3:00 in the typhoon.
Put on boots, take out umbrella
To go buy a thing.
A million moving pieces made in Taiwan.
Big rocket go now
To put Cup Noodle in space.
Crystal dew like jewels
Off a thread in the blue moonlight,
Drip away like ballots in Florida.
My wick burns down,
My essence melts away.
Time is short.
Now my wick is melted,
My tower collapsed.
My tools are soft and useless.
Big and blue,
My head is open to the sky.
See my brains like blossoms
July, in a basement,
Freezing.
Sweat dripping,
Underwear sticking,
Jump into my shower.
Black and white,
Flickering,
Not a job but an occupation.
Love comes to me.
It comes to my door.
But an icy heart stays my hand.
Love comes to my door,
Freely offered across
This aluminum barrier.
Love comes to my mailbox
Everyday.
Pink ladies
Waiting for me.
Love comes into my life
Everyday on paper slips
Through the cracks.
Love comes to my door
Like a bill collector.
I cower and refuse to open.
Love passes by me
In a bright red Volkswagen.
I want a car, too.
Love comes to me in a
Hot bowl of cream soup,
And I eat it all.
Love comes to me
In a second hand book.
But it is still too expensive.
Love is offered like
A cup of hot tea when I’m sick.
It burns my tongue.
Love comes to me in a box
Wrapped in ribbon marked,
“Do not open.”
Love comes to me
With an expiration date.
Don’t leave it in the sun.
Love comes through my window
One summer’s eve,
A girl’s voice passing through the universe.
Love comes to me like a
Drum roll, announcing
You with authority
And amplifying your glory.
Love comes to me in the mail,
An awful, hateful, demeaning letter.
Love comes to me
Like a cold wind in my face
On an already cold day.
Love comes to me
Like an ugly woman.
I have to smile and accept it.
Love comes to me
In heat.
It’s too hot to breathe,
Too hot to think.
Love comes to me
Like words in a novel,
Life passing in make-believe.
Love comes to me
Saying “I don’t want to
Live in this town any more.”
Love looks to me
Like a hole in a young lady’s hose:
Imperfect lady.
Love comes to me
Special Delivery,
But it’s not my address.
Loves comes to me
On flaming pink wings,
Burning, falling, crashing.
Loves goes on and on
Like a bad movie
I have to watch to The End.
Love is like swimming
Alone in deep waters
And being kissed by the sharks.
Love is when
Kim Jong Il sends me a
Holiday gift of cookies.
Love comes to me
Like a letter arriving late,
Sent to the wrong address first.
Love left me
On the Great Expiration Date,
Gone like the cherry blossoms.
Love returns twenty-six years late.
I knew it would pass my way again,
And I waited like
Hachiko.
The smell of earth
chasing innocents
to study hall.
Crickets sing.
Old man
Picks up a cicada and releases it.
Life is short.
Head filled with sand,
Almost falling down.
Another normal day.
Where am I?
If I could do it again
I’d make the same mistakes
In the soft, warm light.