"At a Station" is accepted by Potomac Review.

***

AT A STATION

I forgot my umbrella in a subway
because Kappa asked me for a cup of coffee.

Water boiled in a saucer on his head.
He crossed

his green legs and said,
tell me why you hate awaking—

I closed the bestiary and left the train.
On the ground, it’s

drizzling; drizzles of crystalline gravel,
blue gravel, a moonlit ejaculate. I want

water with ice;
ice from the North Pole. A polar bear kills

a seal on a sheet of ice. Its blood merges
blue into blue in the ocean. A blind

woman plays the harpsichord. A few
pence chime in a tin can. I was once

sixteen years old; nothing;
nothing but miraculous blue.

42 Miles Poetry Series is looking for poetry manuscripts.

Food, INC.
By a Robert Kenner Film

Fellow poet, Professor Clayton's blog

MISERY
By Rin Ishigaki
Translated by Naoko Fujimoto

When I complain,
my father says,
“Please be patient;
I’ll leave soon;”
as if he is a disposable Post-It note.

His words are not consoling;
they are a threat; .....I tell him
and I become angry.

Last year, my grandfather died and
his remains stay on one tatami-mat,
so this small room looks enormous.

I cried and attended his funeral;
my family and his extended family said,
“You are relived from this burden.”
That is consolation for me and
that is their kindest farewell
to him who loved me more than anybody else.

One year later,
my paraplegic father and
sick stepmother sleep beside each other
begging,
“We’ll leave very soon. Be patient, please.”

This disconsolate memory
becomes the past, leaving my living father behind,
I cannot escape
from this memory.


*Ishigaki, Rin. Ishigaki Rin Shisyuu. Tokyo: Shicyousya, 1981.

***
貧乏
石垣　りん　作

私がぐちをこぼすと
「がまんしておくれ
じきに私は片づくから」と
父はいうのだ
まるで一寸した用事のように。

それはなぐさめではない
脅迫だ　　と
私はおこるのだが、

去年祖父が死んで
残ったものはたたみ一畳の広さ、
それがこの狭い家に非常に有効だった。

私は泣きながら葬列に加わったが
親類や縁者
「肩の荷が軽くなったろう」
と、なぐさめてくれた、
それが、誰よりも私を愛してくれた祖父への
はなむけであった。

そして一年
今度は同じ半身不随の父が
病気の継母と枕を並べ
もういくらでもないからしんぼうしてくれ
と私にたのむ、

このやりきれない記憶が
生きている父にとってかわる日がきたら
もう逃げられまい
私はこの思い出の中から。



*石垣　りん　石垣りん詩集　東京：思潮社　１９８１

AS OF LATE
.....for my friend, n.k.

1.
.....Some of the work confronting us
.....will not be completed during my presidency...

“…and I am five days late.”
I told you when the speech was broadcasting.

.....Some, like the elimination of nuclear weapons,
.....may not be completed in my lifetime…

I can no longer remember I wanted to bear a child.

2.
My grandfather met a pregnant woman, summer 1945.

She held an empty bottle and little red kimono
.....and she sat down by the gray wall.

He gave her water

.....and kept walking to the hill near Hiroshima
.....and then bullets’ rain

.....and the atomic bomb burnt the city.

3.
He found the woman again
with a shred of the red cloth.

Her bowels
.....and placenta were spread

under the wall; in the ditch.

He did not find her unborn child but he smelled it.

4.
After rain and rain,
the moon threw down a little blue light

.....and how beautiful the spring of 1946 was;

dandelions and clovers covered the wall
.....and nobody could remember

there were the two corpses underneath it.

5.
While I am listening to the speech,

millions of cells are dividing
in bubbles of amniotic fluid;

a little heart pumps in my womb.

.....And you say,
“Do we give it a Japanese or American name?”

which will remind me of an emotion.
Or at least that is my hope.

Chicken Tomato Spaghetti

For two and half people (about 50 minutes (!) adding additional time for Aaron who rushed into Martin to get spaghetti noodles)

• Half jar of tomato sauce (13oz), so I can use the other half later meal with fish.
• 2 to 3 boneless chicken breast halves, skin removed
• 3 medium cloves garlic, minced
• 2 teaspoons dried leaf oregano, crushed
• Hot cooked spaghetti (which is the key ingredients for this meal)
• One large fresh tomato.
• A husband with a quick feet.
• 4 ounces shredded mozzarella cheese
• Grated Parmesan cheese to taste

1. Brown the chicken in hot oil and sprinkle generously with salt and pepper.
2. Combine chicken with tomato sauce, tomato paste, water, garlic, and oregano.
3. Boil water for spaghetti.
4. Aaron runs into a supermarket with a mission.
5. 4. Cover and cook on LOW about 20 minutes and add cheese.
6. 5. By the time spaghetti is ready, the sauce is ready, too!

This is a steaming hot pile of...noodle.

Japanese Style of Potato Croquettes

About 8 - 9 croquettes (About 40 minutes)

• 2LB redskin potatoes, either mashed or chopped
• 1 egg, lightly beaten
• 1/3 cup flour
• 1/2 cup breadcrumbs (Kikkoman, Panko) and more for cooking
• Seasonings of choice: chopped onion, chopped vegetable, fresh herbs, seasoning mix, etc. and add salt and pepper to taste.

1. Combine the vegetable, mashed potatoes, salt, and pepper, and mix well. If the cakes are not holding together, add breadcrumbs. If they are too dry, add beaten egg to bind.
2. Beat an egg in a bowl, and then mix flour, salt, and pepper in another bowl.
   
3. Roll each ball in the flour mixture, the egg mixture, and also in the breadcrumb mixture to form croquettes.
4. Heat the oil over medium-high. Dredge the roll in breadcrumbs. When the oil is shimmering, fry the roll until well browned, about 5 minutes per side.
   

You may serve with the dipping sauce on the side (hollandaise sauce, pesto, salsa, aioli, or other mayonnaise or dipping sauce to serve). I like Otafuku Sauce from Japan with croquettes.

My first Croquettes are three and half stars of five.