December Sunday I
by Yuko Otomo
what right do I have
to throw words like “a lost herd”
to the crowd on sunday before christmas
walking among them?
evergreen stands straight up & green
being sacrificed for our ritual
soon their bodies will be deserted
on the hard earth we walk on
just to show us they remain green
even when dead
both hands in pockets
I am full of ambitious hatred
for the fact that I was born
into the form of a homo sapience
“why am I not a smooth pebble instead?”
scarves, gloves & heavy coats
painted faces & ornamented hair
sweat for love
words for words
ah! trees! trees! winter trees!
a poet called you “veins & artery of heaven” —
looking at the way you proudly stand
against the endless sky
my dark emotions make me
want to climb up on you
to stay there on you
just to learn how hard it is
to hold on to a trembling branch
when a storm hits the earth at night
a baby, a man & a woman —
why can’t our needs for survival & salvation
be modest & light as a tiny bell ring
for the sake of beauty itself
for the sake of every embracing trees! trees!
winter trees!
Eero Ruuttila
Eero Ruuttila: sometimes is a farmer, photographer, poet, and educator. Recent photos are posted on Allison Cekala’s online exhibition of post-Trump election sentiment: www.thisisrevolting.land. The NRCS Science & Training Library hosts Eero’s Cover Crop Management in Vegetable Systems webinar (www.conservationwebinars.net). Eero is speaking at the Southeast Alaska Farmer’s Summit late winter in Sitka, Alaska. He has a show of new photos at the Press Room in Somerville, Massachusetts early spring 2019.
Japanese Lesson
by Yuko Otomo
Lesson 1.
Learn the pronunciation
Kami = Hair
Kami = Paper
Kami = God
Lesson 2.
Translate the next line
“Kami ga Kami no Kami wo kitta.”
Translation a — God cuts paper hair.
Translation b — Hair cuts paper god.
Translation c — Paper cuts hair god.
Lesson 3.
Compose a line on the theme of “Hair” in both Japanese & English
Kami no kami ha kami sei da.
God’s hair is made of paper.
Professor Sakura
Chath pierSath
Chath pierSath: is a Cambodian-American painter, poet, and humanitarian who resides half the year in Massachusetts and half in Cambodia. As a child he lived through the Khmer Rouge and was brought to the U.S. by his surviving family in 1981. He has two books of poetry with Abingdon Square: This Body Mystery: Paintings & Poems and After: A Book of Poems.