IT IS OK a poem 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

This piece came about as part of the Poetry Challenge, a group in Tokyo that shares work on a given theme. The theme was “Dreamtime.” I’m sharing it here because it turned out nicely, if I may say so, with the title “It Is OK.”

Below are two versions of the poem as songs: What our son Isaku did with the poem using AI, and the other by Isaku’s Berklee friends, Tea and Hiroshi Tokieda, in a human version. I know the man whom I loved all my life will be proud of this poem _ and the music.