We Work 5 Days-a-Week In Japan's Imperial Navy

This is another Japanese "Gun-Ka" (military song), and a famous one at that --- Still sung by many middle-aged, hard-working, company worker-warriors in Tokyo.

You can sing along at this link:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fFJYSHnMM6Q

ASA DA, YO-AKE DA, USHIO NO IBUKI

UN TO SUI-KOMU, AKA-GANE IRO NO...

MUNE NI, WAKASA NO, MINA-GIRU HOKORI,

UMI NO OTOKO NO KAN-TAI KINMU,

GETSU, GETSU, KA , SUI, MOKU, KIN, KIN.

It's a copper-red sunrise, early morning,

I breath in the taste of the ocean current,

My young chest is bursting with pride,

The Fleet duty days of an ocean sailor...

Monday, Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, Friday.

AKAI TAIYO NI, NAGARERU ASE O,

FUI-TE NIKKORI, TAIHO TE-IRE.

TAIHEIYO NO NAMI, NAMI, NAMI NI...

UMI NO OTOKO NO KAN-TAI KINMU,

GETSU, GETSU, KA , SUI, MOKU, KIN, KIN.

My sweat pours out, under the red Sun,

Which I happily wipe, while repairing the cannon,

As I ride the waves and waves of the Pacific.

The Fleet duty days of an ocean sailor...

Monday, Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, Friday.

DO-KYO HITOTSU NI, HI NO YO NA REN-MA,

HATA WA NARU-NARU, RAPPA WA HIBIKU.

IKU-ZO, HI-NO-MARU, NIHON NO FUNE DA!

UMI NO OTOKO NO KAN-TAI KINMU,

GETSU, GETSU, KA , SUI, MOKU, KIN, KIN.

Our courage joins as one, fired by hard training,

The Flag flaps and snaps in the wind, with the bugle's cry.

Full speed ahead, the Rising Sun Flag, on Japan's warship!

The Fleet duty days of an ocean sailor...

Monday, Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, Friday.

DON TO BUTSU-KARU, DO-TOU NO UTA NI,

YURERU TSURI-DOKO, KO-YOI NO YUME WA...

ASU NO IKUSA NO, KONO UDE-DAMESHI.

UMI NO OTOKO NO KAN-TAI KINMU,

GETSU, GETSU, KA , SUI, MOKU, KIN, KIN.

The ship crashes through the song of the raging waves,

In my swaying hammock, the evening brings my dream...

Of how I will handle the next day's battle.

The Fleet duty days of an ocean sailor...

Monday, Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, Friday.

Life's Happiest Moment

I've thought hard about it, and have concluded, that the happiest moments of our lives (assuming we continue to be healthy), occur when we lay down, tired and relaxed, to go to sleep.

So, it happens, not on every day, but all of the rest... And it ends-up being the most consistent, persistent, and under-recognized, source of satisfaction in our otherwise busy, harried, monotonous, and sometimes painful, lives.

I have come to this realization not just through logical thought --- but also based on feelings, both physical and emotional, from over a half century of existence.

Doesn't sound very profound (probably in the "duh!" category), but I bet you agree... So, the next you finish your day, and lay down to enter dreamland, think about how good you feel, as the delicious, warm relaxation spreads throughout your tired body. Maybe you watch T.V., or open your imagination with a book... And at the end of it, as you slip into the quiet twilight, is not more stress, but the ultimate healers: rest and sleep.

ZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ

Hard Landing

White-knuckle flight.

The pilot controls the airplane

Superbly --- Landing bump-softly

In a fearsome fog...

I am so relieved,

Deplaning onto terra-safety ---

Happy and alive.

But, no bags show-up on the carousel.

Top 5 Thoughts On Democracy

Democracy is the art and science of running the circus from the monkey cage.

Democracy is the only system that persists in asking the powers that be whether they are the powers that ought to be.

Here is my first principle of foreign policy: good government at home.

Laws are like sausages, it is better not to see them being made.

The best argument against democracy is a five-minute conversation with the average voter.

Form 1040A

The paper stares at me,

Like a G-man...

White, passive aggressive,

Full of blank blocks,

Cracking its knuckles...

I grab my pencil

Like a switch-blade...

Blues Road

Oh-uuuu... I've been walking down the road

Oh-uuuu... Draggin feet on down this road

I ain't got nothin,

Nothin to ease this heavy load.

Oh-uuu... The rain is pounding on my head

Oh-uuu... The rain drops soaking through my head

My cold cold woman,

Got a man inside my bed.

Oh-uuu... There ain't no point in turning 'round

Oh-uuu... Cain't make a U-turn, go around

I just keep movin,

Till I'm six feet in the ground.

I just keep walkin,

Till my feet don't make no sound.

Curves

Straight lines are fine

And honest

They take you

Directly

From point-to-point

Simple and strong

But consider the curve...

That flows in bows --- geometric grace

Full of possibilities,

Hard to calculate,

Enticing...

Yes, consider the curve.

The 10 Best Quotes From Albert Einstein

Any intelligent fool can make things bigger and more complex... It takes a touch of genius -- and a lot of courage -- to move in the opposite direction.

God does not play dice.

I know not with what weapons World War III will be fought, but World War IV will be fought with sticks and stones.

I never think of the future -- it comes soon enough.

Imagination is more important than knowledge.

Only two things are infinite, the universe and human stupidity, and I'm not sure about the former.

Strive not to be a success, but rather to be of value.

The only reason for time is so that everything doesn't happen at once.

Gravitation is not responsible for people falling in love.

If you can't explain it simply, you don't understand it well enough.

Winter Rain In Newport

Hurrying through the cold falling wet

My coat soaking through...

I think of my forgotten umbrella.

Puddles in blocking formation

Each a hole, showing gray clouds miles below...

I jump!

Cherry Blossom Time

A Japanese song from the era of the "Great Pacific War"... It's the season of blooming cherry blossoms around Japan, which are beautiful for about two weeks, before the flower petals fall in the wind, like a pink blizzard. The song uses this image.

-- DO-KI NO SAKURA

KISAMA TO ORE TO WA, DO-KI NO SAKURA,

ONAJI HEI-GAKKO NO, NIWA NI SAKU.

SAITA HANA NARA, CHIRU NO WA KAKUGO,

MIGOTO CHIRI-MASHO, KUNI NO TAME.

We are cherry blossoms from the same class,

And bloom in the garden of the same naval academy.

We accept that sakura blooms must also fall,

So lets fall spectacularly, for our country.

KISAMA TO ORE TO WA, DO-KI NO SAKURA,

ONAJI HEI-GAKKO NO, NIWA NI SAKU.

CHI-NIKU WAKE-TARU NAKA DEWA NAI GA,

NAZE KA KI GA AU TE, HANARE-NARE-NU.

We are cherry blossoms from the same class,

And bloom in the garden of the same naval academy.

Although we have no blood relationship,

We get along well without knowing why, and can't be divided.

KISAMA TO ORE TO WA, DO-KI NO SAKURA,

ONAJI KO-KU-TAI NO, NIWA NI SAKU.

AO-IDA YU-YAKE, MINAMI NO SORA NI,

IMADA KAERA-NU, ICHI-BAN KI.

We are cherry blossoms from the same class,

And bloom in the garden of the same fighter squadron.

We gaze at the evening glow of the southern sky,

And yet the first plane has still not returned.

KISAMA TO ORE TO WA, DO-KI NO SAKURA,

HANARE-BANARE NI, CHI-RO-U TOMO.

HANA NO MIYAKO NO, YASUKUNI JINJA.

HARU NO KOZUE NI, SAITE AU-O-O.

We are cherry blossoms, from the same class,

And we will fall in separate distant places.

But Yasukuni Shrine is the capitol city of blossoms.

So let's meet and bloom there, in the springtime tree-tops.

Water Board

Lying, blind-folded, face-up, on a table,

Like a salmon on a cutting board

Waiting to be turned into sashimi...

They gather around and hold-down

My legs and arms and head,

Strong young hands

Readying for the shock...

Which comes when the bad actor

Holds a canteen, unseen, above my face

And begins pouring...

The clear water hits between my nose and mouth,

Freely pouring into both,

Choking me perfectly...

My screams are no more than

Spits and sputters and gurgles

And I strain mightily, futilely,

In purest panic and fear

To make it stop...

And then it does...

The questions are asked,

Which I answer quickly and honestly.

But then it begins again...

And I can only hope

The tormentors are good enough

To keep me from drowning.

After a few more minutes -- it is over...

And I feel relieved and shamed,

Tired and angry,

Bereft of hope.

(From my stay at Warner Springs, CA, 1980)

The Easy Chair

Leaning back in the recliner

I stare at the ceiling

And...

Imagine the night sky beyond it

And...

The chair and I

Clinging to the curved surface of a planet

Hurtling through space.

(For further reference: "Rocket Man", Elton John -- Sometime in the 1970s)

50-Something Kidneys

An intriguing, troubling dream...

Stuck in a bathroom

Without toilets ---

It makes me wake-up

To go take a pee.

A Walk Through Yokosuka City Park

Lean-wrinkled, timeless homeless man...

Brown like an unvarnished,

Weathered plank ---

With a twinkle in his eye

Talking aloud to his god.

A kind-faced, well-dressed woman,

Who reaches under the anus

Of her sweater-clad poodle ---

To catch its turds

In a tissue.

Haunting strains of "Rhapsody In Blue"

Heard through the hiss of a

Fancy water fountain,

By no one.

Negotiating With Japanese

Hot, frustrated people

In a cold room;

Ineffective comments

Criss-crossing the steam of green tea...

And only the seats of the chairs

get any warmth ---

Back and forth

The negotiations go...

-- Rhythmically --

The words and arguments

Dry-humping each other.

The Zen-master said:

Sometimes no solution, is the solution.

Looking At The Sky...

The sea gull circles and soars

Pure white against blue sky...

But its poop misses me.

Iwo Jima -- 2008

An island of holes

Filled with lost souls...

Who wander and meet

In volcanic heat,

Thirsting for water

And longing for home...

An army of bones

On an island of stones.

(Thoughts from the top of Suribachi-yama)

The Beginning...

The world of Carl LaFong

Is not his own ---

... Flashes of color and noise

mostly soon forgotten,

... Dashes of pain and joy

in a series across time,

An existential splash-pattern of continuity emerges --- tentatively.