Back to Issue 5

Carleigh Takemoto

Love Poem

I want to tattoo all the names 
of the Japanese demons 
on my body to mark 
the places they reside, 
comfortably. My love
is as dangerous and more 
fierce than a house set on fire,
where everything you’ve ever
cherished becomes ash. 
To me, love is tucking away
a propensity for arson.
Someone told me once
that the Latin translation
of mortgage is death contract
and I am not sure why we use
the word when speaking
of real estate and not of love,
but love can be like this,
a promise you make with me,
to hold my hand even
when the house catches fire.

Lanterns for the Dead

This year, I light a paper lantern
for all the hungry ghosts I have loved--
paint my hopes for them on each
illuminated box—stillness, peace
and darkness—before I float

them one after the other down
the river. This year, I dance
for the dead that I have loved--
moving my right foot over
then the left follows forward.

This is how I call them back,
the signal that it is festival season
on Earth—please come visit--
let me hold a cup of water
to the invisible mouth,
feed you from a gilded rice bowl
that is also unseen.

If you see a river, glowing softly--
small lights nodding on the water’s
surface emanating words of love
and mourning—follow it--
in this life and the next.

Carleigh Takemoto is from Fresno, California and is working on her MFA at CSU Fresno.

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