A Spirited Museum (A Poem)

By Joyce Jacobo [Author’s Note: Based on the Studio Ghibli Museum in Japan, a place that it would be wondrous to visit someday.] There exists an enchanted wonderland    deep within the city of Mitaka in Japan                   reached by the crossing of a boundary                       between city and forest                            to glimpse a massive

The Lantern Girl (A Poem)

By Joyce Jacobo [Author’s Note: Based on an old tale I heard that seems to have come from Japan, of a kindly soul who seeks to help anyone who is in trouble just off the coast of her hometown.] A young fisherman was lost at sea   somewhere off the coast of Japan   amid

The Town of Dolls (A Poem)

By Joyce Jacobo [Author’s Note: Based on Nagoro or Nagoru on Shikoku Island in Japan, known as a “doll village” because more than half its residents are dolls created by a woman named Tsukimi Ayano. They are very realistic and inspired by actual former residents, like memorials of a much simpler time. There is a