An adolescent incessantly drilling
flash cards of arcane letters,
stroke orders, the combinations
and pronunciations of Kanji,
spent hours, evenings, 7nenkan
fervently applied to an eastern
obscurity. For intrigue, for interest
in something so unhomelike, farfar
away–tooi, fushigi– demo
itsudemo omoshiroi to omoida:
The yearning for vast impossibilities.
Perhaps a lonely picture? This lone
boy with his flash cards, persistently
wishing to tap into some understanding,
felt like a precipice and the sensation
of swaying in one’s stomach on its edge.
Or perhaps, to some purpose yet,
some… yakusoku, perhaps.