ode to the stroller
a poem by Yuri Kageyama

we zip weightless like silent angels
up and down San Francisco hills
running on the mother of all energy
greener than solar
rolling rolling rolling
with laughter
cream acid rock ‘n’ rolling
lightning dazzling wheels
gara-gara-gara-gara
teethers jangling dangling dancing
going mad on strangle-free rubbery ribbons
up and down the Avenues
J-town, Clement Street
Golden Gate Park
Museum of Modern Art
we are singing:
“Ouma no oyako wa nakayoshi koyoshi
itsudemo issho ni pokkuri pokkuri aruku”
perfume wind in our hair
springing over potholes
not even stopping just for breast feeds
connected as one through this magical machine
me pushing
you riding
the Lamborghini of strollers
the Gundam of strollers
the little train that could of strollers
up up up into the joyous clouds
zooming wheeeeee
down slurping slopes
around swervacious curves
we are one
yes, we are one
tied in the past with our
umbilical cord
and
even in death
in our dreams

A Reading of “ode to the stroller” by Yuri Kageyama at Jackson’s Garage in Tokyo 2013. With Yuuichiro Ishii (guitar), Hirokazu Jackson Suyama (drums), Hiroshi Tokieda (bass).

A Reading of “ode to the stroller” by Yuri Kageyama, also on percussion and random toys, with Kouzan Kikuchi (shakuhachi), Hirokazu Natsuaki (cello) and Winchester Nii Tete (percussion) January 2018, for a book party for Tokyo Poetry Journal, in which the poem was published.