Earth Body, Core
Diamond Tiger Jaw shuts closed
My wing is torn but not my soul
Kingdom come, continue on
Stand powerful through waves
I Shed My Home
And Keep My Earth Body, Core
We are Metamorphs turned Stone
Crumbled sand and shaped as clay
We see the ocean in our hands
We know it in our veins
I Shed My Home
And Keep My Earth Body, Core
A fleeting glint that you perceive
Does not unveil the stars beneath
How it may ease your belly’s roar
But I refuse to lose My Earth Body, Core
From Unfurl
hoshisuna (star sand)
swallowed by the serpent we awoke upon the shore
the sand is made of stars and you are the North
mend our broken tongues and let us chew familiar fruit
don us in silk
we've returned- our Turtle Womb
fragments
i am blooming from seeds that grew me
i am proving that I have also made me
i am speaking through blood that feels so far away
fragments fold between two lenses
fragments fold between two lenses
I am looking in from the outside
Residue
Navigate through sacrifice deep-seated in veins and time
Roots torn, but duty shows
What belonged to you, is also mine now
Tired hands, aching bones
Inheritance- armor worn
Daughters know what they’re holding-
Centuries, stained in motion
Mother tongue lost in childhood
Only left with residue
Honored needs lost and given out to
Hungry mouths, and Matriarchy’s virtue
Summer Rain
Crumbling landscape sweeps away
Spirits shattered by your name
Cells disperse, we start to fade
Lingering tastes in summer rain
Water cleanse me while I wait
Translucent image softly sways
In the end what will remain?
Lingering tastes in summer rain
The Distance Between Us
Arms stretched out to receive your kindness
Met with silence, a mind on survival
The distance between us
When harshness surrounds us
If tides do settle, how do we reconcile?
Hold me close to your chest
Teach resilience through your breath
The distance between us
When harshness surrounds us
If tides do settle, how do we reconcile?
If you understand my strength
Do you also know my pain?
Blooming
How will I know I will find my direction
When all I know now, is it all feels uncertain?
I reach for the sun, though I want to take root
I stare into the pool and wonder when I’ll find my truth
How can I be kind while the landscape dissolves
And the weight of the world weighs down on my heart?
I reach for the sun, though I want to take root
I stare into the pool and wonder when I’ll find my truth
I’m unfurling, blooming, proving, creating, I have to keep existing
I am speaking through blood that feels so far away
Industrial Wasteland EP (unreleased)
Industrial Wasteland
What should we do, where should we go
When acid rain begins to flow?
Below the crust, toxins seep
Pipelines and gas tanks begin to leak
Accountability is relative
It lies in eyes of the beholder
Inconvenience of present laws
"We’ll simply pay to make some new ones"
What is love? If we’ve destroyed the world?
Chemicals injected into the core
What is beauty? In an industrial wasteland?
What is beauty if nothing lives?
Phantoms
History is bound to repeat
If we insist on sweeping the truth
Pride prevents us from seeing - or is it Fear of
Losing that we did not earn, to recognize our Harm
I don’t want my ancestral homeland if it
Means to rob my siblings of theirs
How can I feel right about what’s mind
If it’s built on native genocide?
For profit prisons, for profit development
For profit education, at whose expense?
Police brutality, neighborhoods gentrified
Border patrol, lily pads, military globalized
US territories, used and neglected
Concentration camps, and Exclusion Acts
Police brutality, neighborhoods gentrified
Border patrol, lily pads, military globalized
White phantoms live in half truths but I
Don’t want to play that game at all
A lie is foul no matter how big or small
Show me the writing, I need to know it all
Gardens of Goeku (from Okinawan Omoro-soshi)
Beneath the orange trees
Our priestess dances
The sacred dance of Shinogu
The sacred dance of Shinogu
Goeku ayamiya ni // Kugani gi wa uete
Kugani gi ga shita Kimi no, aji no
Goeku, kusemiya // Kugani gi wa uete
Kugani gi ga shita Kimi no, aji no
Shinoguri, yowaru, kiyora ya, kiyora ya
Goeku, kusemiya, Goeku, kusemiya
My Heart is in the Valley
My heart is in the valley of the Blue Ridge Mountains
Where we last said goodbye
Shenandoah - oh how I miss you so
And my lover with the heart of gold
The road’s awaitin’ and the open skies
Keep on callin’ on this body mine
Feelin’ lonesome from time to time
But the road’s a callin’ on this body mine
The Divide
Getting ready for a movie, a cinematic scene
Can’t wait to see commotion, disaster on the street
A roller coaster accident, can we stand by and watch?
Nothing to be thought about, a moment simply passed
Who do I want to be when we’re talking to face?
What is it that I feel I have to say?
Who do you want me to be today?
What do you want me to come up and say?
The divide, the divine
My home or what is gone?
The garden or deserted
What’s right and what is wrong?
Audience participation, my body is devoured
I share the blood of the betrayer
A mirror filled with fog
Philadelphia Asian Histories - Japanese American Redress Movement
An American Challenge
"A matter of mind, a matter of heart"
Roosevelt did say, is the American Way
Do we make you laugh? Do you think we’re well behaved?
Our temperaments determine if they will let us stay
A dream of home was made With an outstretched Quaker hand
Our education promised through a Philadelphian pact
An executive order, a huge mistake was made
Encroachment of our liberties - a system that has failed
How Grace worked endlessly to help politicians see
The experience we faced, and the crimes that had taken place
It was not about the money but about the recognition
Of the violence and racism that overtakes our Nation
If my loyalty helps me survive
A photo shows my smile through trying times
Will my American identity define the humanity I deserve?
The Lion Heart of Judge William Marutani
Of crime, of loss, and shame how can amends be made?
Forty years past due what can be reclaimed?
I know I must be brave when tears fill my heart
I can not show a break or else we’ll lose it all
The sorrow of my people can hardly be contained
A sliver on a podium a lifetime of pain
A duality of Face to represent the States
A hundred thousand stories had yet to be unveiled
Please do not forget this battle is for all
If we fail our neighbors, we all will surely fall
Philadelphia Hostel
At the Philadelphia Hostel we will keep an open door
On Chestnut Street there’s space to rest - a chance for a life ahead
While there is so much sadness, things that are left unsaid
Let us also speak of JA excellence
In Japanese American Spirit
We must always give back
Engineers and Architects like Nakano and Tadafumi
And Michiyo, the highest honor was declared a Sacred Treasure
In Japanese American Spirit
We must always give back
Just as the Quakers helped us through
Helped lift us out of the struggle
When we scale a hurdle , we too must help another
In Asian Diasporic Spirit
We must always give back