Forged In Fire is the true story of a young girl's childhood in pre-WW II Tokyo; her schoolgirl dreams; the violence, starvation and desperation of wartime that drove her family out of the city; and the American Occupation that shaped Japan's future. It is the story of my mother, Rita (then named Tomoko), who was ten years old when World War II began and fourteen years old when it ended. Mom had often recounted her experiences to me and my siblings as we were growing up. At some point, Mom began urging us to write down her stories for her. I finally got around to honoring her request early last year (2014). Using audio recordings, notes, frequent phone calls and plenty of fact-checking, I eventually placed into chronological order the various fragments of her memories. On one hand, it is a young girl's story, told plainly. On the other hand, it is a remarkable glimpse into one of history's most tumultuous events - one not widely known. Mom was later diagnosed with cancer in July 2014 and eventually passed away at the age of 83 in August. Although severely weakened from her illness, she was happy and proud to hold a rough draft of the printed manuscript in her hands. It was her final wish that her story be published and so here it begins....

Short poems and a wandering mind. Life and love in the twinkle of a bird's eye. "Evening light fits the cove rock, a mouthful of gold. Cormorant bathes in amber, deeply still..." #29 non-fiction, #38 poetry. #5 haiku! These are in lots of different styles, free verse, rhymes, sonnet and other forms. Thank you for all your reads, votes and comments. You bring it alive! Thank you for visiting. Call again:) Rose. words and many images copyright all rights reserved cora-2 / @ RosyCarmelina 2019 :)) cover image J J Harrison Creative Commons share alike 3.0 Wikipedia page : cuckoo

and I shall drink to the breath of boundaries the signs of a restless earth

This is mainly a five part idiosyncratic reflection on the life of Jesus of Nazareth; someone whom many people with little time for religion still find attractive. It is mostly from a talk I gave in 1988 while visiting a church in Pennsylvania. Please make allowance for this context in what I have written. I am not trying to proselytise. I believe that, whatever path we follow, the important thing is to come to a point where we live, not to gain God's approval, but to respond to his** love. For me, that love is embodied in Jesus. * Ecce Homo (John 19:5) - the Latin words with which Pontius Pilate, the Roman Governor, presented the scourged Jesus to his accusers before sending him to be crucified. ** When I speak of God as 'he' I am not assigning a gender; but I am not willing to tie language up in knots in order to be politically correct. Feminists beware! (but really I approve of what you stand for.)

This is an account of the mental illness I suffered more than forty years ago. It is more explicit than anything else I have written.