Poems

I'll be in Yokohama and Tokyo the next 5 days so I figured I would post something before setting sail. I realize I am no Bobby Frost of Eddie "Al" Poe, but I will try nonetheless. Enjoy!

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Ways of Japan

In Japan, there are many peculiar ways...
afternoon assemblies and sleeping senseis.
Though they stay until 8 or 9
they are bound to say they are fine
that they don't mind
but they constantly sleep to pass the time.

And of course the formal ways...
the set phrase and proper etiquette craze,
with side-stepping and brown-nosing galore
the inability to show someone the door
and tell them "uh-uh, no more!"
all of this (and more) can make being a foreigner quite a chore.

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Footnote: I wrote that while being stuck in the middle of all the Japanese bureaucracy that comes with getting an driver's license in a foreign country. It should be noted that about 90% of the time I love Japan.

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Haiku For You

Now who thought of this?
ahh....seventeen syllables!?!?!

Think and choose wisely.


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I realize my haiku needs some work. I am actually trying to write some in Japanese, but that is harder said than done. Why? Well, my name "Isaac" has 2 syllables according to the English way of writing haiku. Whereas, in Japanese it has 5 syllables (or characters)--アイザック. Furthermore, each haiku has to represent a season--different words representing different seasons. However, some words have no season associated with it and thus you have to make sure at least one of the words has a season associated with it and no other words have a season associated with it that contradicts the others. Understand?

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Fresh Drabby Moldy Medicine

Each day is new
and each day is fresh.
Each day begins
and ends with a stretch.

Swallows fly still
in the blue gray sky,
although this day may be
the day that they die.

So I get up...
brush, wash, and give.
There is life in my bones
and days to live.


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