By GENIE NAKANO
*waka means little song in Japanese
poets
many we are
stuck in
journals, notebooks, garage sales
the un-sung ‘waka’ heroes
not relevant,
poets are read about
in English I
shelved in libraries
(Sylvia Plath killed herself)
Father was a poet
his poems never saw
the light of day
hidden in a closet
five thousand poems
I write
to make up for Dad’s
eclipsed realities
sewing the tapestry
I can hear him smile
one day I wrote
a story of stories
at the end, I die
not sure
if I go to heaven or…
so I trash it
hire a ghost writer
we start all over
with a strange beginning
I am being born
Genie Nakano is widely published in journals, and her recent books, Enter the Stream and Storyteller are available on Amazon. She teaches gentle yoga and tanka at the Japanese Cultural Center in Gardena. Genie can be reached by email.