Long Tatami Poems

Written in summer of 1976.


I used to eat my lunch with groups
of businessmen from Campbell Soups.

We drank a drink at lunch each day
Of Coca-Cola mixed with hay

And talked of pending corporate plans
And willow-haired orangutans.

I spent...

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Unquotable quotes: The How of Democratic Kill – XXXIX, Part One

Born in 1868, Alexei Maximovich PESHKOV, better known as MAXIM GORKY and hailed as the chief proponent of Soviet literature, the veritable champion of the...

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If ever I had to have a country victim of pedophily-LXXXV

(Note : Fresh disclosures from the Catholic Church on the subject
made public by protesting Mothers of infants victims of pedophily
at the hands of the Clergy...

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As from his Book of Rules He read,
“Tsk-tsk tsk-tsk, St. Peter said.

So PICKED up I my bags and left
For that damnéd lower cleft.

I stomped away then turned and paused.
How much fuss had my fib caused?

A...

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He was turbulent, fearful, and a dipsomaniac. He was dead to the target, undeniable emulation of his father. So I've been told.

Equated with many of his uneducated and socially stigmatized peers, starting at an early...

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In the morning of a new year day
I stood on the spot where
The vindictive little boy fell
I disrobed garments of beauty
From the place
And saw ruins and bones
A white moon was still hanging sadly
On the winter...

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When the moonlight touches my tatami,
Spreading silver petals on the floor,
I shall leave the cosy bed behind me.
Like a cat, I’ll tiptoe to the door.

It is spring. The sakura’s in blossom.
I would watch this scene...

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the walls of my room are doors
exposed when you stalk my perimeter
squinting shut when I am gasping
for air

alone. you must have chosen me
from a list of names and ages,
perhaps photos. we had a boy
last year,...

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blooming inside
your dancing lips trace moonlight in my heart
I feel your dreamy words 
creaming
caressing
sugaring
sweetening
------ my closed minds

Full Moon
........rising in the east
........lanterns and moon viewing
........and a cup of green tea

opening inside
your loving kindness reflected moonlight in...

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The rooms lie low and hollow,
perforated by two stone gardens
enclosed in the center.
A lone hard chair hides in the corner.
The tatami mat, brown and warped,
gently springs beneath my steps;
this house only welcomes 
travelers passing through.

But...

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There's a blood-stained tatami house
and it rest peacefully near the cherry blossoms and pond
It has an ancient roof that aims for heaven
and a foundation built in hell

There's a small child in the house
and he sits...

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When you’re 4
Leaving a city 
Age 8
Unfortunate
Many events
You forget.
Spoke fluent Japanese,
Phrases
Some words
Counting 
Still do.
Cherry blossoms
Thin rice paper doors
Friends
School
Black crows
Flashbacks still view.
Kimonos
Tatami floors
Koi fish
Back then,
Looked different
And new.
Rice crackers
Nori
Dried fish
Delightful snacks
To eat,
“Stop eating that garbage”
Mom yelled
“Throw it...

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