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.

My Poem on Mirrors

My Poem on Mirrors

I hate seeing my reflection in the mirror.

I always look away.

It’s not that I consider myself utterly ugly.

I’m just embarrassed.

The same way I can never smile in photos.

That person looking back, oddly visible.

When a face should be simply a window

Used to look out from what’s within.

My longtime poet friend Alan Ota found this poem of mine from some time back. He thinks it is moving and might use it in his next book. I didn’t even remember having written this poem. It sounds like something I would write. I still like this poem.

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.

A Thought Today

A Thought Today by Yuri Kageyama

sometimes the cruelty is unbearable

the way they snicker

say No

you

don’t

even

exist

it hurts

you know inside

it is because they are white

and you are not

and you remember

the way it happens

over and over

not from when you are born

when your mother hugged you

and your father taught you

and you had friends

who had toys and laughed

you remember

how it happens when

the world finally includes white people

who hate you

say you look like a doll

ignore you

make you feel small

find new names for you

at least they didn’t kill you

but they always like to say

No

My Ikenobo Ikebana No. 5

I was allowed to choose my vase and so it’s a rather unusual shape this time that really stimulates your imagination as to where the leaves and flowers should be, can be, wants to be, or are speaking to your soul to be. The beauty of Ikebana is that it is a conversation, silent but certain, not only with the elements of Nature but also with things like a vase, specially made by an artist for Ikenobo Ikebana, an individual. You are also relating to many other people, your ikebana teacher, of course, and your inner self, but, more significantly, memories of people, like your mother, who taught you your first lessons in ikebana, pride and joy in your Japanese heritage, and recognizing beauty and the message of impermanence in Life.

My Ikenobo Ikebana No. 4 is here with links to the previous works.

Haiku For Toru by Yuri Kageyama

Haiku For Toru by Yuri Kageyama

deleting emails

name of dead colleague pops up

i’m thinking of you

^___<

Funny how the most unpoetic of activities can become all of a sudden emotional. That, to me, is a haiku moment. And I tried to capture that, as well as honor and express my gratitude for the long years of working with this colleague. I know I will think about him, now and then, like today. Feb. 9,2023.

Haiku March 24, 2021 by Yuri Kageyama

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.

GIFTS FROM THE DEAD a poem by Yuri Kageyama

GIFTS FROM THE DEAD
a poem by Yuri Kageyama

Graves are always There
for those Who are still
Alive to Forgive
Accept Reconcile.
They don’t Speak Back.
They don’t expect much
because
they are ready
to be Forgotten
if not
really already
Forgotten.
So when You
Go There, You
will Be Forgiven:
Grave are Gifts
from the Dead
for the Living.

At a temple in Toyokawa, Aichi Prefecture, Japan. Photo by Yuri Kageyama.

At a temple in Toyokawa, Aichi Prefecture, Japan. Photo by Yuri Kageyama.

Memorable Flowers _ A Haiku Poem by Yuri Kageyama

Memorable Flowers _ A Haiku Poem by Yuri Kageyama

high-school prom corsage
a lover’s bouquet on pay day
weeds your child picks for you