My Poetry in Great Company
I’m reading my poetry with Joshua Breakstone in this “Jazz and the Spoken Word” event in Tokyo Oct. 15, 2026.
My poetry an honorable mention in “The Terrible Fives” by Ishmael Reed
My poetry an honorable mention in “The Terrible Fives” by Ishmael Reed
This isn’t coming out until November 2026, but I am thrilled to get an honorable mention in “The Terrible Fives,” the upcoming book by Ishmael Reed, my longtime mentor since my Berkeley days.
Poetic Moments
POETIC MOMENTS
“Poetic Moments,” a poem I wrote that was part of my poetic series from a few years ago called “The River,” is now a song. The music is by Ryu Miho, singing in this version. Toshiyuki Turner Tanahashi did the background music and arrangement. Believe it or not, I am going to try to learn how to sing it.
Here are the words:
POETIC MOMENTS by Yuri Kageyama
Let me create them
Poetic moments
A Ditch is a River
Poetic moments
The River is Vision
Poetic moments
Lost forever found
Poetic moments
Everywhere
Poetic moments
Nowhere
Poetic moments
Let me create them
Poetic moments
May I stay pure
So I don’t miss them.
I’m trying to express how fleeting are those special moments in life _ those moments of sheer beauty or recognition, coming to an idea or feeling love with certainty, and knowing this will all come to an end. Those moments are special. But only those who deserve them get to experience them. That is what I believe. Being a poet is not a skill, gift or even an inspiration. It is about the kind of life you lead so that you become that kind of person who can be a true poet.
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.
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
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.
A Podcast about my writing
A Podcast about my writing
And on Amazon Podcast
And a Video on LinkedIn
I talk about my journalism and other thoughts. This was done in April 2026, but is being re-released August 2026.
My Poem FUKUSHIMA with my Yuricane band
My Poem FUKUSHIMA with my Yuricane band
My poem FUKUSHIMA today with my Yuricane band. Toshiyuki Turner Tanahashi (bass), Hirokazu Jackson Suyama (drums) and Yuuichiro Ishii (guitar) at What The Dickens in Tokyo July 5, 2026. The last part of the poem is missing from this recording. The complete poem below. The link to a reading with bassist Darrell Craig Harris. Another version with visual artists in 2018, and an even earlier version with different instrumentation. And this is the 2014 “garage” version where we did it for the very first time (excuse all the mistakes). But I still do my poetry with the same musicians, and more. And that means a lot. The poem is one of the first pieces that I wrote for what later developed into my theater piece “NEWS FROM FUKUSHIMA: Meditation on an Under-Reported Catastrophe.”
FUKUSHIMA
by Yuri Kageyama
Y’all, it’s a Meltdown nation
Since Three-Eleven
Covered in the fear
Of unseen radiation
But don’t you expect
Any revolution
All you will find
Is fear and contamination.
Here in Fukushima
It rhymes with Hiroshima
Instead of a holler
Hear just a whimper
They say it is safe
The kids like Chernobyl
Are coming down sick
With Thyroid cancer.
Fukushima
Fukushima
Fukushima
Y’all, it’s no hallucination
The refugees’ life
No compensation
No resolution
Just nuclear explosions
Get your dosimeter
Cesium in the water
Lost Imagination
Here in Fukushima
It rhymes with Hiroshima
The radiated Brothers
Faces are hidden
Goggles and masks
Like an astronaut
From head to toe
The Invisible workers
Fukushima
Fukushima
Fukushima
Premature aging
Nerve cells dying
Sterility, deformity
Unborn baby
Blood count dissipation
Leukemia debilitation
DNA radiation
Godzilla’s affliction
Tsunami Demolition
God’s DeCreation
Genetic Devastation
Our next Generation.
Here in Fukushima
It rhymes with Hiroshima
No-go zones forever
The World must remember.
Fukushima
Fukushima
Fukushima
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?
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.
And so: What do you think?
Poetry Challenge (Part Two)
The Poetry Challenge 2026 has now become a weekly. And so here goes. The first theme for the group is “Water.” More themes follow by the week below:
WATER
by Yuri Kageyama
You’re instructed to do less
Be invisible
Although no one is watching
You’re a threat just by being you
So be quiet and be still
Pretend you don’t exist
Don’t even breathe too hard
People can tell you can play
By just hearing a note
People can tell you can write
By just reading one line
And who needs that from you
When you aren’t even there
James McBride wrote “The Color of Water”
But you are neither white nor black
So you just aren’t there; OK?
And already totally forgotten
Midnight
by Yuri Kageyama
A sliver
Of a crack
Dividing
Tomorrow
From
Today
Slip through
A free fall
The other Side
Invisible
What Death
Feels like
Long lost lovers
Wait for you
That’s why
Midnight
Has that eerie feel
The moment
When eternity
Hits
A whisper
A breath
A nothing
BIRD SONG
by Yuri Kageyama
Plum blossoms warble
A flutter of green
Nightingales tell us spring is here
Gliding reflections
Elegance of white
Swans remind us of Tchaikovsky
Caught in a cage
Silent fluff of yellow
The Canary who’s forgotten to sing
SHAPE I’M IN
by Yuri Kageyama
Being not white
You get racism
Being a woman
You get sexism
You’d think with time
Race, gender maybe
Will matter less
Well well well
No no no
Being old
You get agism
And that’s together
With all you got before
LIES
by Yuri Kageyama
You are beautiful
People call them lies
I’m so in love with you
Those promises for forever
You are the only one
But some lies are allowed
In sickness or in health
They become truth in love
Till death doth us part
MISTAKE
by Yuri Kageyama
Waiting for Godot
Ice cream
Rock ‘n’ roll
A good night’s sleep
Waking up after that
Soft sunlight through the window
Michelangelo
A joke that makes everyone laugh
Pink lipstick
Pink roses
Pink bubble gum
A gorgeous sunset
Winning but knowing it’s OK to lose
Losing but knowing you might win next
Landing a job
Getting paid
Going out to dinner
Going out dancing
Burritos
Birthdays
The smell of evergreen
A fireplace
A walk on the beach
Holding hands
The John Coltrane Quartet
Jimi Hendrix
This is a list of things I love
Have loved
Will love forever
Remember
No mistake
Our baby’s first cry
Our baby now a man
Pride and joy
Peace on earth
The caress of your kiss
DREAMTIME
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
a link to the poem as a song below, courtesy Isaku (I changed the second-to-the-last line to match the musical version _ and because I like the new line better):
Walk On
by Yuri Kageyama
Dionne Warwick sang “walk on by”
About someone who said goodbye
Paul Griffin plays piano on that track
Do you remember or care to look back?
He recorded with hundreds of musicians
Bob Dylan, the Isley Brothers, Van Morrison
We must keep going and walk on
Not passing and forgetting, walk on
Dark Side
by Yuri Kageyama
Smart people say
William Blake believed
Good and evil are
Side by side
But I heard different
Like a child
Pure and clear
That voice:
“Mommy I love you”
Heart and mind and flesh
For all eternity
That is
Good
The side
To know and stay
Blessed are we all
For those memories of good
Even those we no longer
Really remember
But I know
For sure
We do
Get
To
Choose
To live by good
And die by good
And not walk over
To the dark side
Which is somewhere else
And we don’t have to be all that smart
To be different
From that other side,
Twisted and gnarled
Hateful of others’ joys,
Just hissing and snarling
First Contact
by Yuri Kageyama
You sent me pink flowers
It’s been a year since he died
A whole year
“Sending big hugs your way”
You wrote in a message
I hear a happier voice
Than some time ago
When you said
“I can’t give you grandchildren”
Though I replied quickly, firmly
“You don’t have to give me grandchildren”
I will try to remember that happier voice
Like when we went to hear Jharis Yokley
Rhythms resonate in a tiny Tokyo hall
It doesn’t matter
We can’t remember what we said
The first time we met
WEARY
by Yuri Kageyama
I’m never tired of remembering you
When I vacuum and pick up your sheet music
When the silly things you saved fall off the shelves
When my heart aches each day you aren’t here
I’ll never tire of loving you
Even if you aren’t here to hug or cuddle
We have memories like when our son was born
How we took turns till he happily dozed off to sleep
I just know you are still here
Watching to make sure I don’t fall or cry too much
There isn’t that much time left to wait
And we can be together again like always
DEPARTURES & ARRIVALS
by Yuri Kageyama
Naoya enters the ring to that song
Into the spotlight, the cheering crowd
I’m not a fighter, just a reporter,
Feeling so blessed to be here
^—<
Reminders of what you’ve missed
Rooftop of a fancy restaurant
The getaway trip we never took
Too late to wish you knew it then
^—<
It’s the same in the end to be there,
Or not arrive, to be or not to be,
To remember, or having no memories,
That life and love are all that matters
HEAVEN OR HELL
by Yuri Kageyama
It’s not about looks
The smile and wink
That catch your eye
Nor the riches
Whether he can get you into clubs
Or get you a job;
Does he make you laugh?
Would be more to the point;
Ultimately
It’s about forgiveness
Because
When you love someone
Truly
There is nothing
To forgive