Rain

I see the empty street, naked as a woman’s shoulder
In the rain.

The hitchhiker, grimed with beard, aims
His thumb at a dry bed & three squares,
Nothing more.

We were talking about something called Negative
Capability. You kept saying Rilke,
and I kept thinking Rain.

The river’s back is pocked by rain,
Churned by a duck,
Smoothed by an orange-red leaf.

There’s no room for guilt out here,
But there’s plenty of room for rain.

The clouds bisect the radio tower,
Still the message comes through clear enough:
“Rain today & rain tomorrow.”

You were drinking your fourth cup of coffee
& telling me about deathless art.
I just wanted to talk about the weather.

“There’s a cold rain coming tonight.
Nothing worse than a cold rain.
Tears the leaves from the trees
And sends the pretty girls
Inside to get their coats.”

The rain begins
Its argument
With the sky
And ends with mirrors
In every gutter.

One drop
Fallen in a puddle
Is a quote within a quote within a quote within a quote within a quote….

A torrent falls from the sky! Took the trash out this morning and the rain was boiling down. I hope everyone who reads this stays dry.

J.G.

Today was rather over-cast in Shin-Urayasu, but we had a good time here. My wife went to Waseda University to take the national Korean test and was to be away until two in the afternoon. The kids and I started out with cereal and rice cakes for breakfast. Then after a little morning T.V.–kids’ shows and news–we went shopping at Daiei super store. We picked up a couple of toys at the Christmas clearance sale (that was a hit), and then we got lunch. Yo had some sashimi–raw fish–rice, and soup. Tenn had some noodle soup (Udon) and chicken. I had steak bits on rice and a bowl of Udon as well.

When we got back down to the ground floor of Daiei we heard singing and went to the stage in the main foyer. There, two rather pretty Japanese young ladies were singing traditional songs accompanied by a slightly older woman on the piano. Their voices harmonized beautifully. An old man pushed his wife up to us in a wheel chair and the woman began to move her arms and hands in a graceful manner along with the music. The interesting thing was that Tennessee was also doing something similar in her own two year old style. Once in a while the old lady brushed away a tear as the songs the young women sang no doubt brought back memories to her. It was an interesting contrast, the old women in the wheel chair and the little girl standing next to her making the same gestures to the same timeless music. Something to remember.