

Poet, Performer, Dancer, Storyteller, Yogini

the train lost speed
and just plain stopped
everyone
got off and stood
staring at the tracks
mother cow
jumps over the old man
in the moon
milk spills everywhere
luna-tics start spraying silver bullets
deep in the forest
things settle into a snooze
while urban women
blare a new kind of music
you’ve got to hear it…
I can’t explain it
you just have to be here
dance and move
to a new formed rhythm
with a universal beat
Can’t
dream it nor stream it
must be in real time,
Right now, right now
let a new world sing
Clickety clack
the train picks up the beat
just like that
the train
is back on track.
GEnie Nakano
9/26/15
I wrote this poem years ago (9-26-15) coming out of the doldrums and slight depression. I edited it “just a little” to complement the way I feel today. I’m coming out of sadness and back on track.


Toto our loving dog of 17 years died last week. My husband had just came home from being in the hospital for four days. He had a mini-stroke. Then Toto passed 4 days later– October 22, 2020. I haven’t been able to write since–fortunately our good friend Irene Furukawa wrote this lovely prose for Toto…
They love you oh so very, very much, and are missing you terribly now. You have gone to Rainbow Meadows. All your hurting and pain are gone. You are perfect now. Thank you Toto, for all the wonderful and marvelous everyday moments you spent and gave to your dear family. Many of us relatives and friends of Hideki and Genie Knew and loved you. We will remember you with much love and affection. Enjoy now your operfect life in Rainbow Meadows and know that your are loved by many here on Planet Earth. Irene and Aki



Photos of Toto and Hideki by Genie Nakano

The day I wrote this tanka October 14, 2020 my husband Hideki had a stroke. I finished meditating and was compelled to write it. I had no idea he was out in the world and was having a stroke. Hideki, drove himself van to emergency hospital and stayed for 4 days. He is out of the hospital and luckily he survived! Doctors will watch and monitor his heart, and he is on heavy duty medication–“he is still not out of the woods”.
“Umbrella“
You
are my umbrella
you keep me cool
when it’s too hot
protect me from the storm
My best friend and confidant,
my special sparring partner
we stay
strong
until death do us part.
Genie Nakano, Oct. 14, 2020


Our Family Resturant is on Buzz Feed– AZUMA RESTAURANT IN GARDENA,
CA, USA
My husband, Hideki Obayashi is talking in the video. He did a great job.




No…
cutting my hair
until
Covid is Controlled
the weight of it…
Genie Nakano, Oct. 13, 2020
When the quarantine began in Los Angeles in March 2020 my hair was shoulder length. Today Oct.15, 2020–Thursday, my hair is almost to my waist and I’ve gained a few pounds along with it–“the weight of it”.

The silent spell
of wind chimes broken…
autumn breeze
Genie Nakano
Oct. 14, 2020

I am back to working with our local Gardena Newspaper in L.A. county. Here is my latest contribution. I took the photo in Vietnam, 2010. It's a palace but sorry I can't remember where it was. If anyone knows where this photo is -- please tell me.
I suggest new writers approach their local newspapers for exposure. I started as a journalist with a column, "Genie's Lamp" and later a poetry column, "Tanka Tales". Now it's what it is....
Praying for a Gentle World~~November 3, 2020

Floating
in the distance
a gentle world
Genie Nakano, May 24, 2020
Photographed by: Genie Nakano

darkness, lightness
yin yang, yang yin
man…woman
animal…human
we have many lives
beaming down
on my skin a silver moon…
how can needs be fulfilled
when what is wanted
is not needed
a turtle floated
to the island’s shore
years ago
my father rode on his back
to the bottom of the sea
waves rolling
across the sand
just a dream
soft and tender
I believe in Miracles
an ocean
shimmering with anima
pulls back and forth
back and forth…
make your foot prints now.
Genie Nakano,
originally published in my book, “Colorful Lives”, 2016