Leiko Ikemura
For Cécile

poem

scraps become
paper flowers
undeciphered lines
read probingly
shy injured
but overtly hurting
they are words no longer

crowded by fear
driven by death
densely woven time
so piercing
that there is no longer
yesterday or tomorrow

this breathless writing
on nameless pain
turned into an organ
mouth opening hurting
creeps into this cave
for several nights
they are words no longer

not important
what is told
volcano eruption and typhoon wind
erode all away
page by page
they are words no longer