Dango

An Oath in Seven Shades of Blood

Pei Mei has inspired me and the tutelage
under which, famished, the Bride learned
to punch through wood and use chopsticks,
I will use as a model for perseverance,
cutting a bloody swath through underworld
gangs of Tokyo with cool names like
`88 Nintendo and Yab Yum Honey.

Nothing shall dissuade me or in any way
detract from my effort, men in black robes
shall bow before me and reveal their secrets
as to their maker, the chinese characters
arranged like insects on a griddle will
show their true colors, no longer a riddle
It is all part of my plan
and furthermore, my fate.

Tamesu

While german and french words seem to have heft
learn a word and you can plug it in
in a familiar, formulaic way

Japanese words are something other,
slippery and unfamiliar they seem to
defy efforts to peg down, and place

wriggling like eels in the hand, slipping
though you know what the word is
and what you want to say, it somehow

refuses to stay put when trying to express
that simple thought which is somehow
so different in japanese

the set ambition of `to try` becomes
soft and fluid `tamesu`
think `omoe` and `ao` blue

so the mind must slip into a
fluid pattern as words and intentions
flutter around all usual meanings

Kanji

Could you find a way to return through this leafy jungle,
overgrown brushstrokes pushing eachother in crowded
bids for attention

You can almost
feel the frenetic energy of chinese city life in their intricate
branches, alleyways filled with hawkers and street vendors,
peking duck and fried crickets.

A lone plodding explorer in the faint east I trod
uncomprehending, trying to assimilate sounds
and cultural certainties that have no relation
to my own, pushing back the branches to find
patterns, meanings more complicated than
anything I would choose.

Looking for a river I left long ago I chance upon a field
of similarly patterned pebbles and slip and slide
until eyesight blurs.