death « Yuri Kageyama

ISAKU’S SONG FOR HIS FATHER

https://www.epidemicsound.com/track/UHpWS3a76U/

This is a song Isaku wrote for his father, “Sanctity,” featuring Sumie Kaneko on vocals.

あなたからの　贈りもの

遠く離れても　耳をすませば

私の大事な宝もの

か弱い鼓動　今は誇り

惜しむ間もなく　走れども

もう何も耐えることはない

てしおにかけた　我が子ども

もう何も迷うことはない

This is how I’ve translated the words into English:

This gift I got from you

Listen hard, even from afar

It’s my most precious treasure

That faint beat is now my pride;

Before one even knows it, that passing of time,

There is nothing to bear anymore,

That child, you raised with all this love,

There is no uncertainty anymore

From “Katari Vol. 2 Stories from Japan” by Isaku Kageyama 2025.

YOUR ROOM _ a poem by Yuri Kageyama

YOUR ROOM _ a poem by YURI KAGEYAMA

The door is open

It still smells like you

So sweet

Strange how I don’t remember

Your smelling so sweet

I let it air out

I don’t want the smell to fade

But to let you have some fresh air

This is the third part in a series, which has the link connecting to the earlier pieces. The link to the piece that follows this one.

Another Thought Today

Another Thought Today by Yuri Kageyama

I’m amazed at how bitter, small, mean-spirited and outright cruel people can get

when we all know there is ultimately only death, meaning

it’s really up to us, no one else,

here on earth,

while alive,

to make it

what it can be.

Actually my teacher told me it’s against the rules to let a flower that broke off float in the water, when I did it. But when he took the photos at the end of the class with all the lighting set up, or actually another student and me holding them up, he took the flower, dropped it in the water and took this photo. He is a nice teacher. Although allowed in other styles of Ikebana, Ikenobo did not, seeing fallen flowers as death, and his works are about life, purity and our eternal connection to the spiritual. It made me sad that death is so beautiful. And I like this photo.

The link to my very first attempt at Ikenobo ikebana. And there are many more every month, each one a fleeting moment but very special.

what do you think? a poem by Yuri Kageyama

what do you think?

a poem by Yuri Kageyama

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?

This is the first piece in a still untitled series. Continue to this link for the rest of the series.

I went on to collaborate with a singer and musician to make this into a song.

FEARLESS AT 90 a poem by Yuri Kageyama

FEARLESS AT 90 a poem by Yuri Kageyama

I am fearless at 90

Wrinkles deep as the Nile

Hair translucent spiderwebs

Varicose veins throbbing blood

A map of fate on a carcass of skin

I am fearless at 90

I rap poetry with my dentures

Jazz dance with my wobbly knees

I rock like Jimi Hendrix

We Boomers invented Revolution

I am fearless at 90

I’m so close to the pearly gates

I’m on speaking terms with the angels

I’m so near-sighted I read minds

My fungus breath slays dragons

I am fearless at 90

My wheelchair zips Ferrari-style

My voice resonates five octaves low

My cane duplicates as a samurai sword

My hearing aid just blocks out noise

I am fearless at 90

I have no appointments to keep

No bosses to please

No dates to impress

No one can put me down

I am fearless at 90

I barely remember what’s up or down

Or who is where anymore;

Beyond gender, race, class,

Or even age

I am fearless at 90

My skin like washi paper

My fingers gnarled like a witch

I am neither man nor woman

White, black, brown or yellow.

I am just 90, and fearless:

Those days are long gone,

Not trusting anyone over 30,

I’ve given birth to a thousand children

And have a million grandchildren

I am fearless at 90

Although death is around the corner,

I’ve seen war and peace

Endured abuse to survive;

Don’t expect or need respect

I’m proud to be fearless at 90

^___<

Note from the poet:

I am not yet 90, but I feel this way and wrote this poem.

When I’m 90, I will write my real fearless at 90 poem.

The poem was published in the Winter 2024 issue of KONCH MAGAZINE.

More with Turner at this link. And also at this link for what we did together later.

MY POETRY IN ISHMAEL REED’S KONCH

My Poetry in Ishmael Reed’s KONCH

My poetry gets published in Ishmael Reed’s KONCH MAGAZINE.

“Fearless at 90” in KONCH magazine Winter 2024 issue.

What a thrill. And what company I keep.

My reading of the poem with bass by Toshiyuki “Turner” Tananashi. Tokyo 2024.

A BROKEN FRAME a poem by Yuri Kageyama

THE BROKEN FRAME a poem by Yuri Kageyama

The ambulances are screaming. We look up and see a big tear in a steel fame right by our apartment building. We wonder but figure it’s not a murder because we don’t read about it, and there aren’t that many murders in Tokyo. Every time we see the broken frame, we wonder who it could have been. And what might have driven this individual, whom we don’t know and never will know, male or female, young or old, happy or unhappy, probably unhappy, literally over the ledge to a dark deep definitive leap of death. It does not make us feel very good. Every time we see that broken frame. A few weeks later, the frame gets fixed. And we stop wondering.

NOTHING HAPPENS A poem/song by Yuri Kageyama

NOTHING HAPPENS なにもおこらない

A poem/song written and read by Yuri Kageyama

Featuring Tea on vocals and the YURICANE band with Hideyuki Asada (guitar, arrangement, audio mastering), Hiroshi Tokieda (bass) and Takuma Anzai (drums).

Photo by On Lim Wong.

I started working on this song in February 2019. It’s finally finished in 2023, as a recording, with singing and music. The piece is about how people like to talk about “what’s happening” or what’s going to happen. But most of the time, nothing happens. And nothing needs to happen. If anything, it can be a good thing when nothing happens. With the pandemic unfolding, the song became for me more pertinent than ever. I reworked the song to reflect that. In June 2020, I added the rap section in Japanese that refers to the death of George Floyd. We must not forget how precious those moments are when horrible things that can happen don’t happen, and we can just sit back and enjoy the passage of time, when utterly nothing happens.

Nothing happens なにもおこらない

_ a poem/song by Yuri Kageyama

(1)

Nothing happens

Bombs no longer falling

Nations aren’t killing

Nothing happens

^___<

(2)

Nothing happens

Women aren’t screaming

Children aren’t starving

Nothing happens

^___<

(BRIDGE)

なにもおこらない

このきもち

なにもおこらない

しずけさ

^___<

(4)

Nothing happens

The stars will shine

Behind clouds that hide

Nothing happens

^___<

(5)

Nothing happens

Birds, blossoms remind

The passing of time

Nothing happens

^___<

(rap section)

Nothing happens

We took it for granted

Nothing is boring

Nobody up to no good

Looking for something

Something to happen

Before the coronavirus

Now we wake up to numbers

Pray the curve gets flattened

Pray it’s no one we know

Waiting for a vaccine

Scared by the sirens

Italy, New York, Spain, Wuhan, Tokyo

Now nothing else happens

Nothing else can happen

Now you know it:

Now you wish you didn’t wish it

Now you know for sure you like it

When Nothing happens

Yeah, Nothing happens

なにもおこらない

死ぬまえ

のこる生命で

えらんだ言葉

息ができない

彼のおもい

アメリカの差別

歴史のおもい

すべてすごくて

言葉がない

息ができない

You know that’s the view:

No news is good news,

It’s so quiet you can hear it

Silence is the music

When NOTHING HAPPENS

^___<

なにもおこらない

このきもち

なにもおこらない

しずけさ

^__<

Nothing happens

The Virus descends

Like a stranger of death

Nothing happens

^___<

Nothing happens

We can forget the rest

How we miss those days

When Nothing happens

^—–<

And this is how the song all started; the clip below is from while it’s in the works (Artwork by Munenori Tamagawa):

Yuri Kageyama · NOTHING HAPPENS a poem/song by Yuri Kageyama with guitar/arrangement by Hide Asada

My other Virus Song (a side B to NOTHING HAPPENS if this were a CD like back in the good old days)

I AM THE VIRUS a poem written and read by Yuri Kageyama with piano by Nobutaka Yamasaki

photo by Ong Lim Wong

I am the virus

I thrive on mossy envious egos

They keep showing up

Offices, clubs, picnics,

Choosing being seen, hoarding

Over social dis-tan-cing

I am the virus

I fester in corona-shaped clusters

Commuter trains, cruises, crowds

Peering at the Olympic torch,

I love the naming “Chinese virus”

The taunts, attacks on slant-eyed people

I am the virus

I cower when folks stay in

Takeout food, work from home,

A meter apart on solitary walks,

Wearing masks, washing hands,

Mixing aloe and alcohol

I am the virus

The crazy evil devoured

By doctors, vaccines, canceled concerts

Turning into live-streamed music,

People who remember to tell those they love

How much they really love them.

My 2015 Story on the Kamikaze

I still like this Story I did for The Associated Press some time ago when I interviewed a former kamikaze pilot. It was still online at The Detroit News.