The Poetry of Mark Daniel Milbocker 
Izakaya Blue

They said the sky was falling
so we dug our caves deeper and
learned to nest in safe isolation

but every flood gives way and want
for a new season to burgeon and break
once frozen topsoil

and welcome back friends and
the frenzied economies of living
and laughing over a Sapporo

after all the bending has ceased
stories are traded like gin rummy
as gyoza disappear from the ponzu

masters carve fish into doilies
as the unappreciating snortle their sake
and bathe their mentaiko in shoyu

They say even monkeys fall from trees
so we laugh at our absurdity and
stain our felicitudes with
the indigo of the night
■





©2024 Mark Daniel Milbocker  All rights reserved.