The Poetry Challenge 2026 has now become a weekly. And so here goes. The first theme for the group is “Water.” More themes follow by the week below:
WATER
by Yuri Kageyama
You’re instructed to do less
Be invisible
Although no one is watching
You’re a threat just by being you
So be quiet and be still
Pretend you don’t exist
Don’t even breathe too hard
People can tell you can play
By just hearing a note
People can tell you can write
By just reading one line
And who needs that from you
When you aren’t even there
James McBride wrote “The Color of Water”
But you are neither white nor black
So you just aren’t there; OK?
And already totally forgotten
Midnight
by Yuri Kageyama
A sliver
Of a crack
Dividing
Tomorrow
From
Today
Slip through
A free fall
The other Side
Invisible
What Death
Feels like
Long lost lovers
Wait for you
That’s why
Midnight
Has that eerie feel
The moment
When eternity
Hits
A whisper
A breath
A nothing
BIRD SONG
by Yuri Kageyama
Plum blossoms warble
A flutter of green
Nightingales tell us spring is here
Gliding reflections
Elegance of white
Swans remind us of Tchaikovsky
Caught in a cage
Silent fluff of yellow
The Canary who’s forgotten to sing
SHAPE I’M IN
by Yuri Kageyama
Being not white
You get racism
Being a woman
You get sexism
You’d think with time
Race, gender maybe
Will matter less
Well well well
No no no
Being old
You get agism
And that’s together
With all you got before
LIES
by Yuri Kageyama
You are beautiful
People call them lies
I’m so in love with you
Those promises for forever
You are the only one
But some lies are allowed
In sickness or in health
They become truth in love
Till death doth us part
MISTAKE
by Yuri Kageyama
Waiting for Godot
Ice cream
Rock ‘n’ roll
A good night’s sleep
Waking up after that
Soft sunlight through the window
Michelangelo
A joke that makes everyone laugh
Pink lipstick
Pink roses
Pink bubble gum
A gorgeous sunset
Winning but knowing it’s OK to lose
Losing but knowing you might win next
Landing a job
Getting paid
Going out to dinner
Going out dancing
Burritos
Birthdays
The smell of evergreen
A fireplace
A walk on the beach
Holding hands
The John Coltrane Quartet
Jimi Hendrix
This is a list of things I love
Have loved
Will love forever
Remember
No mistake
Our baby’s first cry
Our baby now a man
Pride and joy
Peace on earth
The caress of your kiss
DREAMTIME
by Yuri Kageyama
it is OK
to idealize
he is now
an angel
or
at least that’s
what they say
he never laid eyes on another
he always brought home the pay check
he never broke anything
and he never snored
it is OK to believe
all those things
and think he was, will be
perfect
a link to the poem as a song below, courtesy Isaku (I changed the second-to-the-last line to match the musical version _ and because I like the new line better):
Walk On
by Yuri Kageyama
Dionne Warwick sang “walk on by”
About someone who said goodbye
Paul Griffin plays piano on that track
Do you remember or care to look back?
He recorded with hundreds of musicians
Bob Dylan, the Isley Brothers, Van Morrison
We must keep going and walk on
Not passing and forgetting, walk on
Dark Side
by Yuri Kageyama
Smart people say
William Blake believed
Good and evil are
Side by side
But I heard different
Like a child
Pure and clear
That voice:
“Mommy I love you”
Heart and mind and flesh
For all eternity
That is
Good
The side
To know and stay
Blessed are we all
For those memories of good
Even those we no longer
Really remember
But I know
For sure
We do
Get
To
Choose
To live by good
And die by good
And not walk over
To the dark side
Which is somewhere else
And we don’t have to be all that smart
To be different
From that other side,
Twisted and gnarled
Hateful of others’ joys,
Just hissing and snarling
First Contact
by Yuri Kageyama
You sent me pink flowers
It’s been a year since he died
A whole year
“Sending big hugs your way”
You wrote in a message
I hear a happier voice
Than some time ago
When you said
“I can’t give you grandchildren”
Though I replied quickly, firmly
“You don’t have to give me grandchildren”
I will try to remember that happier voice
Like when we went to hear Jharis Yokley
Rhythms resonate in a tiny Tokyo hall
It doesn’t matter
We can’t remember what we said
The first time we met