Arai Takako - Specter!

There is a girl who goes nowhere
There is a girl who sucks up severe nourishment
Like a water jug
Deep in my eyes
I illuminate
Things buried in the earth
I can see them
I can see
Gossamer shimmering illusions
Inside my body
If I close my eyes

There is a girl with roots
Could one call her lonely?
Certainly the gossamer shimmering
Under the earth does not speak
Does not touch her breasts
They simply gush
Stick up and shine, shatter into seven colors
      And that is where I sew
Like a freshwater fish
I forget myself
And travel
Still rooted
Unable to budge
I grow

How many hands
Will stick out?
Mother and father
Many mothers and fathers
Fly about and warble

I will
     Forget
           My forgotten
                  Time

If the gossamer illusions
Rise up to fill the girl's fingers
Flowers will adhere to them
These first
Colors
Are what the buried ones have resigned us to

Look!
No
Close your eyes
The rustling buds
That are beginning to swell
Stroke them
      Softly
Moisten your ring finger
With a little spit

               It's running! Look,
                    The specter
                         Is running
                    Through your eyes
               Across your floor
          The girl and her gossamer illusions
      Attagirl!
Look, above your head too

"Springtime, come to us!"

---

Arai Takako (born 1966) Japan
Translated by Jeffrey Angles
Source: Big Bridge