COMMA OF GOD

By Milton Kessler

I am nothing compared to the Medicaid sneer
I am nothing compared to the owner of the door
I am nothing compared to the elevator of Heidegger
I am nothing compared to the spokes of Vincent's Belgian sunflower
I am nothing compared to Rodin's least mistress
I am nothing compared to the frames of Hamlet
I am nothing compared to a critic or chauffeur
I am nothing compared to my old fire engine
I am nothing compared to the breasts I see
I am nothing compared to a tree in any season
I am nothing compared to the escalator of Duchamp
I am nothing compared with Turner's clouds
I am nothing compared with the lens of Claud
I am nothing compared with my mother in 1930
I am nothing compared with the cockroach in the drain
I am nothing compared to the jew-hater's snot
I am nothing compared to the beak or the bill
I am nothing compared to the past or the present
I am nothing compared with any suit on the rack
I am nothing compared to a loaf or a child
I am nothing compared with any syllable of Homer
I am nothing compared with the foot of a chair
I am nothing compared with the truth of your anger
I am nothing compared with what I failed to do
I am nothing compared to one note of Lester Young
I am nothing compared to the images of Vietnam
I am nothing compared to the furnaces of Dresden
I am nothing compared to the last drops of snow
I am nothing compared to a bicycle with wings
I am nothing compared to the comma of God

She's finally riding!

Big news around our house today: Lucy is finally riding a bicycle...no training wheels! It's like toilet training, bottle weaning, and everything else. During the process of teaching it, it seems impossible. Then, all of a sudden, as if some little switch goes off in their head, they can do it! Next goal, sleeping in her own room. In Japan, kids sleep with their parents for a LONG time. No wonder we only have one child, most people say. Anyway...

Go! Go! Kumamoto

To my freshman, "freshers," students who have moved to Kumamoto this spring and are looking for something new to do in Kumamoto: Here are a few places to check out after you have seen the castle (The castle really is amazing, but maybe waiting a month or two for the crazy crowds to disappear is a good idea).

Check out:
1. Suizenji Park - Have MACHA in the tea house, and say hello to this duck, who will certainly come greet you if you buy fish food

2. 500 RAKKAN- The 500 Buddhas carved on the hillside of Mt. Kimpo. Take time to look at all their faces. I was told that if you look hard enough, you can find a face that reflects your feelings right now....and you must sit and meditate in the cave where Miyamoto Musashi hung out when he was in Kumamoto.

3. Flea Markets- There is one almost every weekend at FoodPal, or every few months at the GranMesse Exhibition Center.

4. Kami-Ura Street (The street parallel to Kamitori and Namikizaka a block in the direction of Route 3) There are so many fun, cheap and happening restaurants, and shops here!

5. Toichi Okonomiyaki Shop - Open just at night, but sooooo delicious! From the Shimotori Core 21 Pachinko, turn toward the Densha-dori, walk about 5 minutes, past DONKIHOTE shop, on your right ( a small, sliding wood door).

I am sleepy, so I will think of more and post later!

Babies ~ Laughter ~ Fairies!

When the first baby laughed
for the first time, the laugh
broke into a thousand pieces
and they all went skipping
about, and that was the
beginning of fairies.

J.M. Barrie

Happy Mother's Day

I wanted to post a Mother's Day message, but couldn't think of anything that didn't sound really corny. So, I looked through my library and found some thoughts from

Kahlil Gibran's THE PROPHET:

And a woman who held a babe against her bosom said, Speak to us of Children.

And he said: Your children are not your children. They are the sons and daughters of Life's longing for itself.

They come through you but not from you, And though they are with you yet they belong not to you.

You may give them your love but not your thoughts, For they have their own thoughts.

You may house their bodies but not their souls, For their souls dwell in the house of tomorrow, which you cannot visit, not even in your dreams.

You may strive to be like them, but seek not to make them like you. For life goes not backward nor tarries with yesterday.

You are the bows from which your children as living arrows are sent forth.

The archer sees the mark upon the path of the infinite, and he bends you with his might that His arrows may go swift and far.

Let your bending in the archer's hand be for gladness; For even as He loves the arrow that flies, so He loves also the bow that is stable.

Reading this, I was reminded of two things that I was once told. One, a metaphor that my father used a couple of times when we were having one of his long talks, that children are like kites, and that parents hold the string for a long time and then at some point, let them fly, with lots of tugs, reeling, and releasing along the way. Other words that stick with me are words my cousin, Julie shared with me recently, that the measure she uses for guiding her is her children. If your children would be proud of you today, you must be doing ok! That's a good compass I think!

GETA TAP!

Today we spent an hour tap dancing, rather stomping, in wood GETA sandals! I guess it is probably the Japanese version of clogging. My daughter's tap dance teacher, lovely Tyler, invited an instructor to her studio from Kagoshima to give a day-long workshop. Apprehensively, they convinced me to try, and I HAD A BLAST! I am predicting I will be a little sore tomorrow, but it was really so much fun making so much noise stomping, clapping and hooting! Now, Tyler wants us to show off our moves in her annual tap dance show. Looking at the photos, and seeing how UNgraceful I look, I'm not so sure. Anyway, thanks for the fun!

Won't my Daddy be so proud of me!

Remember the bumble bee song? Sing that melody as you read on:

I'm shooting up a perfect target score.
Won't my Daddy be so proud of me.
I'm shooting up a perfect target score.

Today, a group of our friends visited the Kumamoto Shooting Range where one of our friends has landed a new job. You need a license to do most of the serious shooting stuff, but we were able to do laser target shooting. Guess who had the best score? Me! I never scored a perfect 100, but got one round of 9 perfect 10s and one 9 for a total of 97 points! My friend Mako claims in must be in my blood...either my father's genes or simply the air and water we breathe and drink being raised in Montana.

Funny that I enjoyed it so much, because I am usually the biggest whiner about not playing with guns. I won't let my daughter even touch a play gun, and constantly reprimand my nephews if they point anything that half resembles a gun at any person. When my university students ask me about America's love of guns, I diplomatically talk about the safety standards my father, brother and boy friends went through to get guns for hunting, but also have real life stories of people I know who had gun accidents and death. I also got dumped really early my senior year of prom because my date wanted to get in a few hours of shut-eye before going hunting the next morning. No hard feelings though, Bill!

It really was a fun day. Thanks for the invite, Ai!