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| “Japan considers cheaper congratulatory cups for soaring number of centenarians. Ministry cannot afford to keep handing out saucer-like sakazuki, a 100th birthday gift from the government since 1963.” The Guardian, August 20, 2015. Photo: Misao Okawa was born in Tenma, Osaka, on March 5, 1898. GETTY IMAGES via Stuff.co.nz. |
We are very well
eating simple rice
fish and seaweed
stretching in the park
we are now 100 years
poised to accept
sterling silver gifts
so well we number
twenty-nine thousand
thus no silver anymore
maybe crisp paper
letters signed
by Shinzo Abe
Congratulations
Marilyn Peretti lives in Glen Ellyn, Illinois. She has been published on The New Verse News, Christian Science Monitor, Journal of Modern Poetry, Talking River, Kyoto Journal and others. She has poetry books on blurb.com. She takes interest in international news: politics, conflict, losses and sadness, as well as the humorous twists in life.
