That Unkind of Call

When people still had landline telephonesSometimes I wanted to throw mine out the windowThe last time we talked, he told … More

Counting Back to Korean

There aren’t too many stars to countIf you believe in where you’re goingThe exercise of flying back to SeoulTallying suns … More

To Books Never Read

The shelves, like his mind, are stuffed with booksAnd there are piles of them, neatly stackedOn tables throughout the houseMore … More

Dear Reader, this is stuff that’s dry and boring

If you’re searching for some deeper meaning in this poemDon’t bother, Dear Reader, everything’s right here on the surfaceLike the … More

Dirt

This morning, running the vacuum in the living roomThe face of an old flame popped into my headAnd for a … More

Groove

You pause a beat from being yourselfTake a sharp breath as you put you on holdLift the needle that vibrates … More

Confessions of a Floss-o-holic

An obsession sprung from getting braces at 24For some reason, I’d never bothered to floss my teeth beforeI never seemed … More

Identity

“Is that true?” they ask, when they want to knowAbout poems I’ve dreamt off somewhere to catchWords snatched at “a … More

You Are a Star

It was the perfect way your body woreThe “I am a Star” T-shirt I brought to MadisonA collector’s item printed … More

This We’ll Sell

I ask why she’s visiting Hawai‘i, and she tells me it’s to see her brotherHe’s stationed at Fort Shafter and … More

Life Masks

In art class we memorialized ourselves making plaster face castsA time stamp to last over all our years to comeOur … More

The American Cemeteries of World War II

All of us have seen photos of tulip fields, vibrant colors stretching for milesNo need to see those in the … More

On Seeing Hiroshige’s Sudden Rain

The seven on the bridge must deal with storm circumstancesBeings battered by a fearsome downpourCaught in the sudden deluge, some … More

A One, and a One

You try so hard to separate the singer from the songThe perspective you consider off, bizarre, or wrongAgainst everything you … More

Ode To Farming

A Hawai‘i boy spends an autumn weekend farming in WisconsinReplaces fence posts, pulls tree stumps using chains and a tractorCuts … More

Finding Peace

Floundering at the bottom of the darkest pitWhere he choked with every spluttered curseHis life depending now on letting anger … More

Like a Dentist

The staircase only goes to the second floor, but when I look up from the bottomI see eternity stretch out … More

The Case of the Eternal Adolescents

The Hardy boys never had sexNever produced progeny to perpetuate the detective family dynastyNo junior detectives carrying on the family traditionFrank … More

Serene

When you travel you’re tossed in a tornado of sights and soundsA tsunami of exposure flattening your brain with crushing … More

An Issue Put to Bed

The fine art of editing, he found,A gift acquired only over timeThe learning of life’s grammar and punctuationTo gather and … More