Monday, August 15, 2011
Day 349
11:11 pm
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parade – 2; 3
–
an organization asked our organization to ride in
a car for the annual parade, Nisei Week, 2011
gang of Taiko players on a flatbed, Baby Show
contestants in a mini train, J-pop odori dancers,
procession of true kitsch, as small as small can
be, we traveled two blocks and back,
stayed right in the confines of what has whittled
down over the years to a truly Little Tokyo
every 20 yards or so, a familiar group in between
unfamiliar folks waving back at unfamiliar folks
there he was anyway, spirit of a spirit, posted at
2nd and San Pedro the way he and ma used to,
almost as vivid as my memory, I swore for one
moment I saw two old parents waiting there,
sitting on their fold-up chairs, so light they took
their boasting everywhere they went,
two heads protected underneath two baseball
caps with two rainbow umbrella hat attachments
the warm day turned cool and windy, and there we
giddy were, fools dancing among ghosts and clouds
he places himself as I place him there, as with each
moment, or I won’t try and he’ll appear, anyway
and someday I will become a cloud and hover early
enough to save two spots along 2nd and San Pedro
–
–
3.
I saw all the little ones waving
and remembered my
hands were once those hands
I saw the old faces smiling
and smiled back,
our faces will someday be those faces
–
–
tkk
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