Dean Okamura

this place

this place
a shrine in the land of my ancestors
far from the barrios of East L.A.
far from the beaches of Southern California

 

I am
the outsider
the illiterate — unconversant in my native tongue

 

resting
in the ancient forest
a heretic — not knowing the ancestral ways

 

                                                                      yet today,
                    there is a connection
                    a pause chained to centuries of pilgrimage

 

ancient chants
meant for the gods

 

touch my ears
enter my heart
find my soul

 

in the breeze,
a kami (Japanese spirit) greets me

 

                                                  is this heaven?

 

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[1] World History Encyclopedia, Naiku Shrine, Ise Grand Shrine, Ise, Mie, Japan (2017)

Why did you name me Yuri?

[1]

Yuri-chan, there was an American painter
named Georgia O'Keeffe, who created
beautiful paintings of flowers in the 1920s
when you were born in 1926. Have you
seen her paintings of flowers?

 

In death's chambers, we examine our lives.
Perchance, we drift into the sphere
of someone we've known. How does
the soul gain in appreciation of life?

 

Lily heard her mother, Terumi, who died in 1938,
after eight decades of separation on earth
and uncounted time in death's wanderings.

 

She asked her mother, why did
you name me Lily? Doshite? Why?

 

Terumi said, So, nice to talk with you, Yuri.
But Lily grew impatient and interrupted.

 

My American name is Lily. I know it means
the same as Yuri. But why Yuri?

 

Why didn't I get a beautiful name,
like my sister Emi (Blessing Beauty), or
like you Terumi (Shinning Beauty)?
I am just a flower! It was not fair.

 

 

[2]

Her mother was wise and serene, like
Kannon, the benevolent Buddhist deity.

 

Yuri-chan, did you see the beauty in flowers
captured by O'Keeffe-sensei?
She saw beauty in Japanese culture
as many hakujin (white people) saw as well.

 

Ask yourself, why did you enjoy playing Chopin?
Was it to show off your gifted fingers?
It's not mechanical. It's from the heart.

 

You learned the art of Ikebana
at Tenrikyo Temple in East L.A.
(I learned to forgive that church for ruining my family.)

 

Why did you stop flower arranging? Stop playing piano?
Just take up bowling. Just score over 100 pins.

 

I was happy to see you did well at line dancing.
It must have improved your Obon Odori, nee?

 

 

[3]

You are one of Georgia O'Keeffe's lilies:
quiet, graceful, mysterious.

 

 

Lily smiled with her little-girl dimples.
Hai, atashi-wa Matsuda Yuri. (Yes, I am Lily Matsuda.)

 

          – For Terumi Tadokoro Matsuda (1898-1938) and Lily Matsuda Okamura (1926-2022)

 

***

-chan (Japanese term of endearment), Doshite (Why?), -sensei (teacher), hakujin (white people), Ikebana (Japanese flower arrangement), Obon Odori, nee? (Summer festival dance, yes?), Hai (Yes), atashi-wa (I am)

 

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[1] Georgia O'Keeffe, "Black Iris" (1926)

[2] Georgia O'Keeffe, "Lily Turned Away" (1923)

[3] Matsuda Terumi (1921) (2022)