SHADOW a poem written for the Poetry Challenge May 1, 2022
By Yuri Kageyama
when young,
one thinks of what
one will become
or what one
wants to be
^___<
as years pass,
we realize
what we are seen as
doesn’t really
matter
^___<
what matters
is who we really are
how we live
what it is that we do
day by day
^___<
which is not
the same thing
at all
that is what counts
in the end
Haiku March 24, 2021 by Yuri Kageyama
つえをつき
見上げる空に
初桜
Cane in his hand,
He looks up for a long time
First cherry blossoms
The world suddenly looks like a splendid and hopeful place when sakura starts to bloom, right about this time in Tokyo. It happens without fail every year. But it’s so dazzling it feels unexpected. This morning, an old man was gazing up at a tree, probably the first cherry blossom tree he saw on his walk. His eyes, behind the glasses, I knew had seen so much, and was seeing all of that, again, in the flowers.
Artwork by Munenori Tamagawa
Aging _ A Poetic Reflection
a poem by Yuri Kageyama
Skin loosens
But that hotness
That is you
Enclosed
A clear bubble of heavenly air _
Because skin is fallible,
Sags, blotches, wrinkles _
But that,
Still burning, hotter, inside,
That is you
Age can’t ever change this feeling:
This feeling
Of the man you love
Moving inside of you
With
That certainty,
And that child
Growing, living
Inside
That is you