Poetry
CategoryCottage Poem
by Greg Santos
photo credit: Wina Tristiana on Unsplash
it was just a line in the sand
by Chae Yeon Kim
ua mau ke ea o ka aina i ka pono
by Ed Go
photo credit: Mareko Tamaleaa on Unsplash
sleepless
by Clara Yu
photo credit: Evan Cheng
flightless
by Clara Yu
photo credit: Evan Cheng
my father’s beer glass
by Ed Go
photo credit: Harika G on Unsplash
Carving Yellowtail
by Lucy Chuang
photo credit: Hasan Almasi on Unsplash
Mud Hill
by Lucy Chuang
photo credit: Derek Lee on Unsplash
Colorful American romance
by Aaron Hahn
Undiluted Kimchi Milk
by Erikka Durdle
A Sijo (시조 ) for My Son
by Erikka Durdle
Sapphire
by Yuna Kang
return queue
by Xiadi Zhai
photo credit: Nitish Kadam on Unsplash
Writing the Icon of Lakapati
by Cristina Legarda
The Spaniards arrived and encountered fecundity
the lush greenness of taro terraces,
ripe fruits falling from branches surrendering
to the weight of their abundance, trees
with green leaves so large
we could shelter beneath them in the rain,
an uninhibited earth almost flamboyant
in its yielding and giving,
endless green over lowlands and mountains
and a bluish-green at the shore.
Kissaten fantasy
by Khang Tan Pham
photo credit: Kevin Wu on Unsplash
Persimmons
by Selina Li Bi
photo credit: Adrian Stewart on Unsplash
Origin
by Selina Li Bi
I thought I contracted amnesia
from the Siamese cat next door.
She and I were drunk on sake
when she licked my wound
clea..
Visiting Hours (for Carole)
by Lani T. Montreal
photo credit: Hide Obara on Unsplash
Tattooed Girl
by Selina Li Bi
Nothing left but the girl
with persimmon eyes.
A blind immigrant
her fingers trace
the familiar places
on painted flesh
..
Two Truths and a Lie: A Chained Hay(na)ku
by Lani T. Montreal
This Mortal Coil
by Samina Hadi-Tabassum
Every night around 2 AM
Starting in early May
My son began sleepwalking
He climbed out of bed
And walked into our room
Where we lay awake waiting for him
photo credit: Samson Creative Upsplash
Untying Knots
by Chiemi Souen
Jiji’s garage, there,
under the house. The smell
of dirt, mold, moth
balls, and cat shit.
Fingers clinging to the chocolate-brown lattice
under the mint-green house.
Eyes see through the filtered sunlight.
See:
Cardboard boxes filled with old
photos and papers, empty
sake gallon
bottles, bamboo
fishing poles, throw
nets, old garden gloves,
rusty sickles, rubber boots,
tabis, old rice
bags, shoyu cans, empty milk
bottles, a wooden
washboard, and lots of glass
jars filled with nails
and screws.
photo credit: Manuel Sardo Unsplash
Sarah and Hagar
Poetry
by Samina Hadi-Tabassum
In the middle of the night
I walk out into the back alley
The sound of coal cars ahead
The full moon right above
There is no one on the streets
Just the coyotes and me
I cross under the viaduct
Then take a sharp left (Read More)
My Brother Deep
Poetry
by Samina Hadi-Tabassum
My brother Deep stands before a mirror in my bedroom
His long black hair dripping water onto the wooden floor
Watching him comb the tangles with a plastic comb
I laugh as I pull the knots out with my tiny fingers…
Going Back to Where I Came From
A Poem by Anuja Ghimire
I’ve given her blood poems
Her pale hands return them, dried
I’ve offered her my young dreams
Sometimes, standing in three feet of snow
With open eyes, when the heat burns holes in the sky
Fifteen years, I’ve carried water
What can I grow in a land that isn’t mine?….
Part I. Coral / Part II. The Corral
A Poem by Ryan Nakano
Part I. Coral
Ahh, the coral
beauty sees the boy &
the boy breathes
thru jagged little gills diver boy dives deep into his back pocket
to pull out a piece of porcelain Made in
his memory begins before he was born
back when grandmother was a mermaid and
the reef he remembers belonged to the gill-less
sea
force of a wave
the tide of war once littered the beach & the boy
surfaces
combs the shore for shells
combs the shore for something to remember the kingdom….
Okinawans and Salt
A poem by Lee A. Tonouchi, Hawai’i’s own Pidgin Guérilla.
My Aunty Jane
loves for make
and eat
Okinawan food,
watch Okinawan programs,
and read all kine books about
Okinawa.
After Pulse
A poem by Mary Anne Mohanraj
His father said: he saw two men kissing
in the street, and it made him angry.
I was eighteen the first time I
spent the night with another girl,
walked back to campus with her
the next morning, wanting to hold
her hand, afraid to.
Okinawans and Garlic
A poem by Lee A. Tonouchi, Hawai’i’s own Pidgin Guerrilla.
My grandma makes it
one habit
for carry cloves
of garlic
in her pants pocket.
In Okinawa, das how
she tell.
Supposed to be
so you no catch cold.
Chris Marker Says: “Love don’t love nobody.”
A poem by Paul Yamada
Prelude
It’s not just the lake and the park
it’s not about residence, no
or physical dwelling, abode
perturbations and back spasms
will follow you like perfume on
the tongue, shirt cuffs and pant legs
if there is nowhere to write here
is there somewhere, anywhere else?