Blue Mountain Arts Poetry Contest

One Hundred and Twenty
by Yi-Ching Lin

Tenth Contest
First Place

For Mika Yoshida

One hundred and twenty 
is the number of islands reaching 
with their blessed baits 
into the East China nest 
where the waters first distributed god 
and god first distributed smiles 
onto the faces of extremes, in Amakusa* 
Your husband is a metaphor 
for tangerines 
while the other men cast down lines 
as up his trees grew 
and you 
always busy multiplying 
mountains into the half-million years 
it took to grow Amakusa 
from the sea so that you could 
spill your mallets like a bouquet 
and be generous of landing

Twenty-two 
is the number of rosewood keys 
polished by your fingers 
and wrists and elbows 
and the sweet grass you pack 
into your spring suitcase each time 
you say "soon" 
as you reach the five bridges 
and turn to wave —
smiling because you are ready to leave 
smiling because you will return

Two 
is the number of hearts 
waiting at home when 
you walk out onto a stage 
and reel in the rest 
too easily with your 
tangerine smile balanced 
on mallet rods over marimba seas 
and at the end of the day 
with a little bit of America on your lips 
the phone rings on one 
of those hundred and twenty islands 
and you listen 
to their hearts beating from home 
with the scent of Amakusa 
from your opened case

*Amakusa (Japanese, "sweet grass") — a chain of 120 islands off of the west coast of Kyushu, Japan, known for fishing and citrus fruits and the birthplace of Christianity in Japan. Also the home of Mika Yoshida, percussionist.