FOUR FEATHERS PRESS ONLINE EDITION: DEAD DAYS Send up to three poems on the subject of or at least mentioning the words dead and/or day, totaling up to 150 lines in length, in the body of an email message or attached in a Word file to donkingfishercampbell@gmail.com by 11:59 PM PST on November 15th. No PDF's please. Color artwork is also desired. Please send in JPG form. No late submissions accepted. Poets and artists published in Four Feathers Press Online Edition: Dead Days will be published online and invited to read at the Saturday Afternoon Poetry Zoom meeting on Saturday, November 16th between 3 and 5 pm PST.

Monday, November 11, 2024

Dean Okamura


a visit

 

the mood in the room 

does not change week after week 

as if time has paused 

hopes shift slowly into regrets 

yesterday is full of good-byes 


she sleeps surrounded 

by framed pictures of the dead 

brothers and sister 

under mom's and pop's proud gaze 

family still together 


talk to dementia 

will any truth reach her heart 

does she even hear 

no acknowledgment, no frown 

what does truth sound like, anyway? 


a breeze stirs the blinds 

they sway back and forth in pairs 

refreshing the air 

the stillness in the room holds us 

together as we break 


she takes her last breaths 

we wonder how it happened 

favorite things lost 

so much abandoned in haste 

she should have eaten more sweets 





Days of drifting dead in a fleeting world

 

     “mono no aware” 

     – Japanese aesthetic for beauty present in fleeting, sorrowful impermanence 


I feel more 

out of place in the land 

of my ancestors 

the foreigner asking 

where do I belong if not here? 


When my grandparents left 

they forged a new path 

no future in Japan 

they didn’t look back. 


There is much beauty 

in this place 

but I will never 

belong here 

nor understand 

“mono no aware”. 


When I am dead 

do not spread my ashes 

in this country 

my soul would wander aimless 

never touching ground 

and echoes speak 

in words I failed to learn. 


If you find my ashes 

place me somewhere safe 

not in a place of prominence 

nor in such a way to be lost 

I did try to belong. 

Am I alone? 


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