death « Yuri Kageyama

HAIKU TODAY JUNE 2026

Haiku Today June 2026

Ginza street crossing

Filled with envy, when I glimpse

Old entangled hands

This haiku is about that everyday moment when you are waiting to cross a busy street, and you see a very old couple standing in front of you, and you happen to notice they are holding hands, clasping each other’s fingers, like they are holding on for life, or for eternal love. Like they’re on their first date, although they are old _ white hair, frail, pale skin, barely standing, leaning against each other. All you can feel is sheer envy: That they have whatever it is that they have, all the years together, and, most of all, they have each other.

Swimming or flying

Mourning alone will end soon

Love birds mate for life

If you are a bird watcher, even a casual amateurish one like me, you know many of them not only migrate in flocks, like a flight version of human society, but they are also almost always couples. If you ever see a bird alone, look around and find his/her partner nearby. I enjoy doing this. I find it consoling each time.

IT IS OK a poem by Yuri Kageyama

IT IS OK a poem by Yuri Kageyama

it is OK

to idealize

he is now

an angel

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.” That’s what a family member who used AI to make it into a song called it:

WHAT DO YOU THINK? Words written by Yuri Kageyama Music and song by Ryu Miho Arranged by Toshiyuki Turner Tanahashi

WHAT DO YOU THINK?

A song about love with Words written by Yuri Kageyama and Music and song by Ryu Miho

what do you think?

it’s a trick question

what do you think?

with a right answer

what do you think?

not at all open-ended

what do you think?

as it might seem

what do you think?

it’s asking do you really love me?

do you truly understand?

what do you think?

the answer isn’t fixed

just a right answer, and a wrong

what do you think?

i love you so much

what do you think?

and long after we’re all gone

what do you think?

that big question is still there

what do you think?

Lovers are always asking each other: “What do you think?” and getting upset if their lover doesn’t quite get it, or answers he or she felt something about an artwork or a film they just saw together in a different way from what you’re feeling, or thought the feeling should be, or whatever. It’s really a fruitless game, but it’s one all lovers play, all the time, throughout history, wherever they are, any nation, any culture. Because ultimately you’re just asking: Do you love me? And there is no right answer or a wrong one. Just that moment you share, you are both here, alive but together on this little beautiful planet, lost in the cosmos, and we never know what to think anyway.

And this version as arranged and performed by Toshiyuki Turner Tanahashi.

We presented “What Do You Think” at a Tokyo bar together May 3, 2026. A man came up and told us his wife always asks him that, too, and he never has the right answer so he’s given up.
And so: What do you think?

YOUR MUSIC a poem by Yuri Kageyama

Your Music a poem by Yuri Kageyama

He loved me

More than he loved

His Music

And his Music is

Huge

Because

When you play

That kind of Music

The Music

Is about Everybody

Each Player

Even the listener

But especially the Music

Not just then and there

But all the Music

That went Before

You knew that

So you just smiled

When I said

It wasn’t your Music

And I didn’t even think or know

How much you loved me

Because our love was bigger

Than all that

Music

a link to a sweet musical version on SoundCloud

Gordy with Duke in San Francisco 1979. Photo by Bob Hsiang.

I now know it’s all the same thing, love and music. Or the poem, flower arrangement or any other pursuit. It’s about connecting with all that went before you, in all their trials and tribulations, everything. And love is a part of that, your connecting with that person you love. Maybe your friend, your mother, your partner for life. It might get complicated if you are trying to connect with the past, while at the same time trying to connect with that individual, who in turn may also be connecting with the musical or theatrical greats who went before him or her. But, hey, it’s all the same thing. It is how you live and how you choose to connect. And it is definitely a lifelong effort. Worth every second. Filling you with joy and meaning about having known those special connections, and that special person. So do not mourn. Just rejoice. Keep playing, writing, creating and loving.

Haiku Today

Haiku Today by Yuri Kageyama

The birds are man and wife

Arrows gliding floating fluttering

Leave me with envy

^ ___ <

In youth art was all

But love is so much bigger

And our son was born

The Anniversary April 23, 2026

The Anniversary April 23, 2026

by Yuri Kageyama

Proud to have survived a whole year

A numb blur at first

And that is nothing

Compared to all the

Laughing in love, suffering in love, worrying in love

We had together

That time, so long and only so clear now

Because when we were living it

It was just a day at a time

But I will start to remember them,

A year at a time, a day maybe at a time,

Like turning the pages of a beloved book

Starting with the rock song that was a big hit then

And you just told me you will enlighten me

With better music like John Coltrane

The Bear _ a poem by Yuri Kageyama

The Bear _ a poem by Yuri Kageyama

It still sits crumply

With bit of a stunned look,

That first thing you bought me

More than 40 years ago

“Into that little girl thing,” you said,

Like calling out a pretense,

But you knew all along it was true

Like our love;

“After I’m gone,” you said,

“I want you to live a full life.”

You didn’t say “a happy life,”

That would be too hard:

Just “a full life.”

Days, weeks, months,

Years after you’re gone,

Piercing my heart,

Squeezing out tears,

The bear is still here,

Dry cleaned once or twice,

Watching me

Sitting prim

People say things have little meaning, and it’s just the person or the emotions that the thing reminds you of that have meaning. Sometimes they are one and the same thing because if you have something for more than 40 years, that certainly means something, and that thing has a meaning of its own. People leave, taking off from this world and going somewhere very far. But the thing stays. And it continues to tell us what that person means. Because that person never really leaves. He is always here, just like, or even more than, that thing. This is the fourth in a series that follows this third piece, which has a link that connects to the previous pieces. After this are three more: “Love Simply” and “What Do You Think?” as well as “Your Music.” And I get the feeling there will be more because that feeling never dies.