Poem for Japan
by Matthew Zapruder
all day staying inside
listening to a podcast
discuss how particles
over the Pacific
might drift
I knew thinking
whenever cloud
scares me
I am not alone
my umbrella slept
in the closet
I placed a few nouns
in beautiful cages
then let them out
touched with my mind
the lucky cat
asleep in the deli
I always scratch
his head he slightly
raises to meet my hand
all over the remains
contaminated shadowmen
in blue suits that seem
ecclesiastical now
that science is
a religion crawl
the emperor
everyone has forgotten
is speaking
no one knows
how to be
loving and also
hope the wind
in a certain
and not another
direction will blow
PHOTO: Kyoto, Japan, shops with orange cat by Michelle Maria at Pixabay, used by permission.
POETRY and PLACES 