If you fling yourself from a high-rise,
Attempt to avoid falling on passers-by.
If your fraudulent or criminal pursuits come to light
It is only right to disembowel yourself—
A feat with its own aesthetic. Mishima said
Seppuku saves one from being ridiculous.
At Okinawa, on the ship The Franklin, a 19-year-old
Irish boy from South Chicago
Was assigned a role in a ritual sacrifice.
A Kamikazi pilot demonstrated
Moral integrity. Hot flash of patriotic fervor.
Caught in an alien tradition
That boy standing in the ship’s kitchen
Simply died.
Published in Cider Press Review, Volume 17, Issue 1.
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