PEARL

Today, December 7, is Pearl Harbor Day. Because of that, a good friend, and perhaps first partner, was born in a detention camp in Topaz, Utah.

On September 1, 1976, a bearded Japanese-American man, whom I had seen on occasion, wrote his name and phone number on the back of a fellow Sloane’s employee’s business card, and left it for me. That’s how I met Gary Murakami. He later told me he had been loaded, or he wouldn’t have been so bold. I hadn’t noticed. September 1st was Mother and Dad’s 39th wedding anniversary.

We started seeing each other. And for several years, I spent more time at Gary’s place on Pierce Street than at home on 23rd. Several times I offered to move, so that we could find a place together. But he hesitated. Gary said he could never live with me. Later, I learned that was because of a dependence problem. He thought he could disguise it, if we didn’t live together. But we virtually lived at his place—a tiny studio with a bath and kitchen. It was very elegant – in a modern, Japanese fashion. Gary was a wonderful cook, and a beautiful man. He had had several lung operations as a teenager, and had matching scars from his nipples, under the arms to his back. He called them his angel wings. His lungs were atrophying, and would eventually have killed him. I think that added to his anxiety, and contributed to his alcohol dependence.

When I first met Gary I wrote:

SYNTHESIS OF EAST AND WEST

DIVORCED

FROM LINGUAL HERITAGE

BY RANK INJUSTICE

ALL IN BUT ONE DAY

MANY ENEMIES AGO

CONFISCATED PROPERTY

BROKEN PORCELAIN

TRANSPLANTED PEARL

CAST IN THE DESERT

UNTO SWINEHERDS

IN UTAH

AFTER CROWDED STABLES

DARKENED TRAINS

TO BE ABANDONED

IN THE WILDERNESS

BORN IN ISOLATION

AMID SALT FLATS

AND DESERT FLOWERS

PERHAPS

PARENTAL RETICENCE

UNDERSTANDABLE

WITH RIGHTFUL DIGNITY

AWAITING RESTORATION

EVEN NOW

OVERDUE

AN ONLY SON

WITH FAMILIAL OBLIGATIONS

AND HOPE

OF MANY FUTURES

DESPITE THE PAST

OR

BECAUSE

OF LARGER PASTS

A STYLE IMPECCABLE

AND SERENE

WHITES AND WICKERS

TAILORED

APPROPRIATENESS

SIMPLE ELEGANCE

TRANQUILITY

CAN THERE BE

NO BITTERNESS?

###

BEAUTY SEEN

EXPERIENCED

AND TRANSMITTED

MAY I KNOW MORE?

He said yes-- for almost five years. But Gary was always extremely moody on Pearl Harbor Day.