Επιμέλεια: Εύα Πετροπούλου Λιανού
JULIETTE
My hands were frozen and I couldn’t move them. Juliette, you and I are certainly far apart. Not just geographically, but in the way a woman and a man think. I don’t know what’s going on except that I’m still alive. On nights when the light of the spring stars reaches the bottom of the fountain, all I can do is show you my feelings in the form of light.
I eat my dinner from a lacerated bowl. There were days when I was beaten so severely with a baton that I could not get up for days. In a world where nothing is certain, people may continue to search for certainty, and I’m waiting for some kind of signal from you. Juliette, even if it’s just a small rustle of wings, it’s much better than remaining in a state of uncertainty.
I don’t have a past like a slagged stone, or a future like a curtain that harbors the wind. The present is full of your shadow. I see you in the wine, like freshly squeezed fruit, that has been poured into a row at a wealthy gallery. Tonight, too, a clear, cold spring rain is falling from the dark sky.
If you wish, I can crystallize those raindrops into starlight on my palm. I will crystallize the raindrops into starlight in my palm, if you wish, so that their radiance will shine brightly in the center of Juliette’s dark eyes, and that I will be able to see the light in my own eyes. While dreaming of such a dream, I was knocked to the ground like a stray dog, with no place to return to. My beloved homeland, Juliette.
SILENCE OF TIME
In the morning light, a platinum wristwatch, no longer useful, was discarded into a blue lake. The watch slowly danced in the water and fell to the bottom of the lake. As it settled to the bottom of the lake, it emitted a slight cloud of dust.
People coughed, and grey whispers about others hinted at malice. The vices of those who flatter the winners and abuse the losers never cease.
With invisible black hatred in their hearts toward others, they prepared to go out with an indifferent face. In their haste to be on time, they had no choice but to slurp up the cold soup with a rusty iron spoon and eat it. The pale scream of a mad horse could be heard from the distance through the window.
A few clam shells remained in the soup, and the plate was left on the white tablecloth without being washed. The battle itself was about to end with this futile fight. Without victory or defeat, the earth was smothered and the dazzling azure sky was closed in gloom.
Either we had made a mistake in our way of life, or our inevitability had made us do it. Everyone remained silent, only the gears of the wristwatch that had sunk to the bottom of the lake continued to turn in the muddy soil.
Biography: 1963 born in Osaka, Japan. 1985 Waseda University 1989 Dropped out of Waseda University due to illness.1998 Rekitei Shinei Award in Japan. 2021 Arab Golden Planet Award 2022 Awarded the title of Doctor of Letters from the Arabic-speaking world. 2023 My poems were published in Orfew.al magazine in Albania. Also translated into Italian. 2024 My poem was published in the Daily Global Nation in Bangladesh. My poems published in Samantaral Bhabna, India.Interview with an Algerian newspaper will be published. My poem is published in Greek Polismagazino
