1940, 1970 and Today – plus other poems - 8. I want him

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Poem No. 16

A Final Verse

closing out a poetic notebook

Of all the things a man could love

– in the world wide and green –

Or conceived in all the spheres above,

to love a man, is the best between!

Poem No. 17

The more power I get

the more I want the worthless

age of my youth to return.

Poem No. 18 ^[8]

As I walk in the rain,

a girl sways in front of me.

Her big blue kasa

shows me flashes of hair,

her ivory-sweatered back,

her left hand swinging freely,

hips rocking mini-skirted legs.

A boy comes out of a shop in front of her,

deftly crosses the narrow street’s other side,

and falls in line between me and the girl.

The water gently taps his short-cropped hair,

his red bomber jacket –

white letters scripted across the back –

his pants of tan denim,

and one hand in his pocket.

As I walk in the rain,

behind the both of them,

I can see him glance at the girl,

Not knowing I know

He wants her

And that

I want him.

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[8] “As I walk in the rain” Kasa is the Japanese word for umbrella.

I still remember the circumstances of this poem: the wet day; coming out of the Seiyu in Fujimigaoka with groceries; seeing the pair of people walking ahead of me . . . . Poems are great time machines.

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