Giving voice to grief
at the death of his cousin
above Ōtsuchi

a small coastal town
in Tōhoku to the north
of Fukushima

in a hilltop grove
Itaru Sasaki built
Kaze-no-denwa

a phone with no line
but with book flowers and candle
in death white phone booth

each day he dialled up
the familiar number
and told him his news

the following year
came earthquake and tsunami
to lay waste the town

one in ten townsfolk
lost their lives in the flooding
full ten thousand grieved

they came to his phone
to converse with their loved ones
giving voice to grief