Selected Poems
Kokoro and her heart balloon
At the beach near Kumano, an hour before the fireworks display
young girls in kimonos sit in the sand, under the pink sky and bay.
Beneath a sprawling parasol, older girls laugh and palm Temari balls
start rhyming songs sing about where they are from and food they like.
They pass cloth balls back in forth, hand to hand, in intricate patterns
to the beat of silly Edo period songs, still hundreds of years old
Youngest Kokoro sits by herself, happily facing the sea. She has a plan.
She holds her Temari, light in both tiny hands, like a still lit paper lantern.
Kokoro believes in magic, blows until red cheeked and sees only blossoms.
Never giving up hope, she repeats and repeats an impossible wish to float.
A stiff breeze carries her beach ball far to the water, much to her delight.
Everyone will believe in magic, when the last firework shell of the night
explodes and floats everyone's breath far away.
