SAMURAI
From Japan, my son texts:
Hey mom, I heard the Clash playing in a Starbucks this morning
and I thought of you. I bought a Bush is not my president
t-shirt yesterday and I visited Hiroshima
and cried for three hours. I'll be home soon.
I asked him had he heard of Mishima the poet
who committed seppuku when his country demonized him
for training young men to be Samurai
long after WWII.
Mishima and I have some things in common.
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yes, Khadija
ReplyDeleteyay! this poem is about me!
ReplyDeleteit's breathless... and it's on time... and it beckons for more...
ReplyDeletewow!
ReplyDeletei really like how different this poem is from the other entries
ReplyDeleteExcellent!
ReplyDeleteLove how this poem has the line about Bush (such a great reference to the past decade, but also takes us back even further in time with Hiroshima and the mention of Mishima--tying it all together. Short and powerful!
ReplyDeleteyes, short and powerful!
ReplyDeleteI love your style K, and how you draw from
ReplyDeletepowerful memories. It makes me stop and think,
not just want to move on. Well done :) - a
GREAT!
ReplyDeleteBush/coffee-my stomach is nauseous_I wonder if Bush would have had the courage to commit Seppukku?
Clash/Starbucks t-shirt/Hiroshima
ReplyDeleteMishima/samurai
personal reflection.
The poem rocks. Bravo...
the clash playing in starbucks jolts me but what a comment on the last decade.
ReplyDeleteand what a poet warrior the mother in the poem is to instill such compassion in her son.
enjoyed the theme of the duty of the poet.
That is a great last line ...
ReplyDeletenice
ReplyDeletefrom Phil Turner:
ReplyDeleteI had posted a comment earlier, but it was tragically lost in the virtual universe. So much for technology (So much for.... A phrase from The Art of War, often repeated at the end of each chapter.) This is a great poem. Mishima was a great man, despite what the Britannica has to say. I will write a poem about him soon, having just finished one on Seppuku and the art of suicide without depression. Anyway, every poet should learn to think uncompromisingly, unsparingly, unremittingly, like a Samurai of the pen.