Yuko Minamikawa Adams

Spider

A spider strings a guitar.

Nobody strums it.

When a fly is trapped

air starts vibrating. 

NIJO Cenka

To Cat Town

We meet for the second time, you and I-

that summer day when I was still a child,

struggling in the river’s depths,

and you looked down at me

from the railing of the bridge.

Those golden eyes

I still remember.

Just as I was about to sink,

you simply rose and walked away.

When I awoke, drawn up onto the bank,

your pitch-black form

was nowhere to be found.

“Surely it was God who saved you,

a life so chosen must be cherished, mustn't it?”

My sister used to say such things,

but I knew that it was not so.

Back then, you had not chosen me.

At last, we meet again.

No whim this time;

you will take me with you, surely.

O cat-

to your land.