Posted in Poetry, Uncategorized, tagged Sacramento Poetry Center on May 22, 2022| Leave a Comment »
In the midst of chaos
Be still, be still.
Shhhh.
What will poets do
Without the first bloom of Spring
Waltzing in the wind?
What will children do
Without slimy green frogs
Slipping through fingers?
What will Basho have seen
Without the leap of the frog
Splash! Then stillness again?
What will you do
Without the sound of stillness
In the morning dew?
What will I do
Without hummingbird wings
Whirring in sync?
Hush hush,
Be still, be still
Listen.
(Written after turning off the radio.)
Posted in poetry month, Uncategorized, tagged April Poetry Month, Sacramento Poetry Center on April 1, 2022| Leave a Comment »
April
The poets, in droves
Lick their pens, salivating
Over metaphors, turning
Death into life. It must be
National Poetry Month.
******************************
Each time a poet
Puts pen to paper,
There is a sliver of hope
For Peace.
*****************
The Pen
I was but a child
When I wrote my first line of poetry
That senselessly rhymed.
I innocently thought
It would be my ticket
Out of God-forsaken Kapoho:
A ticket away from kerosene lamps,
Outhouses, battery-run radios,
And Pidgin English.
A ticket to Greenwich Village, New York City,
Paris, and Stockholm, Sweden.
Little did I know
That poetry would help me embrace
Each Ukraine standing tall
To the miniscule monstrous thief.
Posted in Poetry, poetry month, Sacramento Poetry Center, Uncategorized, tagged Poetry, Sacramento Poetry Center, Women poets on April 4, 2019| 1 Comment »
Men in Disguise at Book Signings
“Did your husband write all these books?”
He was in the audience a few minutes ago.
Yet, here he stands in his three piece designer suit
Scanning book titles with furrowed brows.
“Idiot,” I didn’t say, “Would I be sitting here,
Two hours on my hemorrhoids
Signing someone else’s books
With carpal tunneled fingers?”
At Barnes & Noble in Hawaii,
The FBI disguised in a loud Aloha shirt,
A wilted orchid lei, a camera strapped like a gun
Interrogates me.
“You wrote these books?”
Not satisfied, he grills me over hot coals again.
“You? You wrote all these books?”
Ready to turn the lamp on me,
He turns to his partner.
“Martha? Martha? Come on over.
She said she wrote all these books!”
Expecting the click of handcuffs,
Water boarding or worse,
I remain silent.
A man in his black robe
Sits on the Court bench.
The Advertiser news story of my poetry book
Spread across his lap.
“A Japanese woman publishing poetry…
No Japanese man” he prophesized,
Is ever going to date her.
She crossed over into the Haole ( white) world
With this poetry book.”
Yes, Your Honor.
Japanese. Woman. Poet.
Guilty as charged.
Frances Kakugawa
Posted in My Rants About Something, Nature, Nature vs. Man, Trees, Uncategorized, Wordsworth! Stop the Bulldozer, tagged Center for Humans and Nature, Sacramento Poetry Center, Save our trees on February 10, 2019| 2 Comments »
I took this photo during a walk around the neighborhood. That eye spoke to me …
Tree
I see you.
Put that saw away.
You will not use my sisters and brothers
To fill your bank account
With Real Estate towers.
I see you.
Put that saw down.
Look up at my glory,
Home to hundreds of life
More than you can accommodate
In your blue-printed home of destruction.
See me.
Before it is too late.
Frances Kakugawa 2-5-19
Posted in Barnes & Noble, Sacramento Poetry Center, Uncategorized, Watermark Publishing, Wordsworth Dances the Waltz, Wordsworth the Poet, Wordsworth! Stop the Bulldozer, Wordsworth, It's In Your Pocket, tagged Barnes & Noble, Sacramento Poetry Center on December 7, 2017| Leave a Comment »
Hi Everyone,
Just a reminder that Frances will be reading my poems from four of my books at Barnes & Noble on Saturday, Dec 9th at 11 a.m. I told her to read how and why I wrote these poems, too. She’ll be signing my books. ( I told Frances I need a new aloha shirt.)
Posted in Barnes & Noble, Dangerous Woman: Poetry for the Ageless, My Books, Poetry, Sacramento Poetry Center, Uncategorized, tagged Barnes & Noble, book signing, Dangerous Woman: Poetry for the Ageless, NCPA, Poetry, Sacramento Poetry Center on October 18, 2017| 1 Comment »
Hello Friends,
Please join me at my first book signing for my newest book of poetry.
Date: Saturday, November 4, 2017
Place: Barnes & Noble
1725 Arden Way
Sacramento, CA 95815
Phone: 916-565-0644
Time: 11 – noon
( The manager mentioned a book order for 15 books and I said, we will need more.
He warned me that attendance may be poor. Do you have family? I said, No family. But I have friends. So he increased the order.)
Posted in Dangerous Woman: Poetry for the Ageless, My Books, Poetry, Sacramento Poetry Center, Uncategorized, Watermark Publishing, tagged Dangerous Woman: Poetry for the Ageless, Poetry, Sacramento Poetry Center, Watermark Publishing on September 29, 2017| 8 Comments »
My new book of poems is now available through my publisher and yours truly. It will be mid October before Amazon and Barnes & Noble will have it available. Best to purchase through my publisher : Dawn@bookshawaii.net or through me. Part of my royalties will go to a scholarship at my alma mater for the 2nd year. Purchases from Watermark support local businesses. To my Hawaii supporters, a February visit is penciled in right now. Thank you in advance, dear friends.
Hawaii
via
Posted in Brickhouse Gallery, Coffee and Poets, Dangerous Woman: Poetry for the Ageless, My Books, Poetry, Sacramento Poetry Center, Uncategorized, tagged Brickhouse Gallery, Coffee & Poets, Dangerous Woman: Poetry for the Agelesss, Poetry, Sacramento Poetry Center, Stuart Canton on August 21, 2017| 2 Comments »
Poet Stuart Canton, thank you for subbing for Frank Graham who couldn’t be there for the Coffee & Poets podcast interview yesterday. Interviewers like you have the gift of making someone like me sound good. Thank you, too, for allowing me to read so many of my poems.
To the audience who gave up your Sunday morning, I so appreciated your support and presence. Lawrence Dinkins, Jr, you are perfect for creating this podcast.
Be sure to attend or tune in to the Coffee & Poets podcast interviews on the 3rd Sunday of each month at the Brickhouse Gallery at 2837 36th St. What an inspiring place and program to help keep poets alive in our community.
Posted in Coffee & Poets, morning glory, Nature, Poetry, Uncategorized, tagged Poetry, Sacramento Poetry Center, Winter in August on August 8, 2017| Leave a Comment »
Some folks love Spring,
New faces in morning glories,
Cotton blouses and green toe nails.
Winter scarves stuffed into cedar chests.
Some folks love Fall.
The season of sounds.
Summer…I hate summers
In three digit Sacramento heat.
I brought Winter back today:
A mug of Winter –
Hot steamy cocoa –
While the city burned outside.
fhk
Summer: 2017
Posted in Coffee and Poets, Poetry, Sacramento Poetry Center, Uncategorized, tagged Brickhouse Gallery, Coffee and Poets, Events, Poetry, Sacramento Poetry Center on August 6, 2017| Leave a Comment »
Thank you, Frank Graham of Sacramento Poetry Center for posting the following:
I’m interviewing the prolific and adventurous author Frances Kakugawa for the podcast Coffee & Poets, produced by Lawrence E Dinkins Jr, at the Brickhouse Gallery in Oak Park on Sunday, August 20. We begin the one hour program at 10:00 am and we’d love to see you there to listen in as we discuss her life and writing.
Brickhouse Gallery
2837 36th St
Sacramento, CA
Frances Kakugawa's Blog 