Ichiyo Yamamoto

Dear Grandma

I wish I could see you more often

I miss the tropical rains and symphony of coqui frogs

beckoning in the spring mornings I spent at your house

the former plantation home

where you raised my father and his three sisters

with your cane sugar hardened hands

Alongside my grandfather, who I may not know, but I bear his name

Mamoru

Mamo, you said you called him

I wish I knew him

My mother told me he was a kind and sweet man

You had dog tags and a gas mask in your locker when you went to school

The family was too poor to be interned

You kept working in the fields

Working even harder when your mother fell ill

Now you carry a never ending smile

After eighty three years of strength and resilience

I wish I could be so strong

I miss the Big Island

I miss Hilo, the local side

Where the surrounding forests envelop the town, shrouded from all else

Where the winding narrow asphalt weaves along with the mountain sides and rolling hills

Where the laid back atmosphere is cultivated by genuine and warm hearted locals

Where I felt most safe and joyous

Where my heart is

Yet times are changing

We have drifted apart

as the storms grow stronger

And the waters rise higher

Slowly sinking, slowly drowning

The world may be on fire

But still you smile

I wish those little green glass frogs we gave you as kids

could return the tides back to the way it was before

When there was no worries

But that’s not enough

I may not know how to turn back the tides

But I will return

I will make sure of that

I will always come back to the place

That I have never forgotten

And will never

That brought me joy

Where you are

In Hawai’i

It’s been almost ten years since I have returned

I remember the black and white coastal sands, the seas and skies of mesmerizing blue, with trees and shrubs of matching green hue

as if it were yesterday, Grandma

Like those sea turtles to that secluded lagoon, I will find my way back

You may have moved to Oahu now

Where I will see you again

But my heart will always be in Hilo