Impresie. Albastru inefabil…

the passengers on the hankyu line – hiro arikawa

*******

When will my time come? It was thanks to the old woman, who had struck up a conversation with her on the train, that Shoko could even begin to ponder that question.

*******

Love means not doing the thing that the other person dislikes.

2020:
daca frunzele
si-ar canta culorile,
ce simfonie!

2021:
ce simfonie –
portalul magic canta
ecoul toamnei…

2022:
ecoul toamnei,
nicicand golit de sensuri,
roseste de drag.

2023:
roseste de drag
oglindirea frunzelor;
si culori ce cad…

2024:
si culori ce cad
din copaci indragostiti –
si-un vis plutitor.

2025:
si-un vis plutitor
mi se-aseaza pe perna,
ca un norisor…

2026:
ca un norisor,
culorile de toamna:
nimb sau coroana?!…

the passengers on the hankyu line – hiro arikawa

*******

All manner of people from every walk of life – solo passengers, friends, couples, families, work colleagues – traverse the concourse at a brisk pace. But as they cross paths, the contents of each traveller’s heart are a mystery known only to themselves.

*******

Such a strange series of chance encounters, overlapping like Jenga pieces, even if Masashi seemed to be the only one aware they were two players in a game.

2020:
niste licurici –
semnul universului
de va fi bine.

2021:
de va fi bine,
e-n lumini de licurici
in privirea ta…

2022:
in privirea ta
se ascund determinari –
nebanuite

2023:
nebanuite,
intrarile in povesti,
inchise-n vorbe…

2024:
inchise-n vorbe,
intelepciuni, ca niste –
sclipiri de sensuri.

2025:
sclipiri de sensuri:
inspiratia scrierii
intr-un licurici.

2026:
intr-un licurici,
lumina efemera
a existentei…

the ex-boyfriend’s favourite recipe funeral committee – saki kawashiro

*******

“My point is, you’ll be fine, too, Momoko. Because you know how to protect your own love.”

2020:
plapumi greoaie
peste trupul adormit.
seninatate.

2021:
seninatatea
cufundarii in nori, si-a
zborului prin vis…

2022:
zborului prin vis
nu ii trebuie aripi,
ci doar petale

2023:
ci doar petale:
prin pufosenia pernei,
delicatete…

2024:
delicatete:
calatorind in visuri –
drum de matase.

2025:
drum de matase:
tesatorii de vise
pe ce nori plutesc?!…

2026:
pe ce nori plutesc?
somnul imi spune povesti,
in asternuturi…

the ex-boyfriend’s favourite recipe funeral committee – saki kawashiro

*******

Tears filled my eyes, this time for a different reason. We’re all fighting the struggles of life, aren’t we?

2020:
sunt o umbrela –
iubirea contra ploii
sentimentelor

2021:
sentimentelor
le cresc paduri in suflet
umbrind ploi si nor…

2022:
umbrind ploi si nor –
lumina de felinar,
creste-mi in suflet!…

2023:
creste-mi in suflet
trepte catre taramul
visului diurn.

2024:
visului diurn,
pasi in realitate –
ce inaltare!

2025:
ce inaltare!
pe treptele din kyoto,
umbra spre soare…

2026:
umbra spre soare
priveste; iar in soare,
cautam umbra…

the ex-boyfriend’s favourite recipe funeral committee – saki kawashiro

*******

Choosing your own path instead of following everyone else is a scary thing. The more we grow older, the more we feel like time is running out. That will probably never change. Even still, I have the power to make myself happy. At least that’s what I want to believe.

*******

“There are people who are in need of that somebody who will come in and track down the regret, loneliness, and insecurities they’ve long buried away. There are times when they need somebody like you, who can break into people’s hearts with the vigor of a warrior brandishing a huge naginata sword.” Hozumi. When you said so… You were trying to tell me something—

*******

I had thought that a person’s worries were something that could simply be solved through talking to someone. Once you vent, you need to hear someone say that they understand, that they can see how hard it was for you, and that you did your best. You need that bit of support. That’s when you can finally start to feel that maybe you weren’t wrong, that everything you felt was justified.

2020:
serpentine cu
pasiune, sarm, magie –
existenta mea.

2021:
existenta mea –
panglica sclipind argint
prin amurg de sori…

2022:
prin amurg de sori,
cu fiecare curba,
cate-o viziune…

2023:
cate-o viziune,
dinspre descatusarea
labirintului.

2024:
labirintului,
poeme de dragoste
deznoada ziduri.

2025:
deznoada ziduri
descatusarea unei
zile cu senin…

2026:
zile cu senin,
indreptand un drum deja
in serpentine…

the ex-boyfriend’s favourite recipe funeral committee – saki kawashiro

*******

In umeboshi-making, there is a custom known as doyo-boshi, the airing out of umeboshi during the period of “summer doyo,” which starts around July 20th and ends around August 6th every year. It is said that this is the best time for it, as drying the plums under the hot sun after the humidity of the rainy season has passed is the key to making the most delicious and storable umeboshi.

*******

“There was a magic spell that Matsuko used to say every day when she made the onigiri. Did you ever hear it?”
Kimura, still in the same position, shook his head softly.
“It goes like this,” I said, pressing together an invisible onigiri. “God of Onigiri, please let Yasunari have another day of delicious meals.”
“God of Onigiri? That’s sweet.” Iori chuckled.
“Well, there is that ancient belief that every grain of rice is inhabited by seven gods,” Hozumi said.

*******

Making sure that all meals are delicious. Enjoying meals with the people I love. Maybe this is what happiness means to me.

2020:
scriitura ca –
poem al sufletului.
literatura.

2021:
literatura:
infloreste deserturi –
safire celesti…

2022:
safire ceresti –
sau podoaba cartilor:
ce diadema!

2023:
ce diadema:
coroana gandurilor
(re)creative.

2024:
(re)creative
scrierile pictate –
ce delectare!…

2025:
ce delectare! –
sau cand peste ani, rasar
caracterele…

2026:
caracterele:
un univers in miscari –
de pensula. si…

the ex-boyfriend’s favourite recipe funeral committee – saki kawashiro

*******

“When you hold on to things, you hold on to the past. Right now, you’re being dragged back to the past, Momoko.” Hozumi made a very good point.

*******

“Why don’t you stop acting like the low-maintenance woman? Just this one day—no, this one night.” Makiko turned to look at me. “Once in a while, you’ve got to embarrass yourself and let yourself be the needy, high-maintenance woman.”

*******

Makiko was simply incapable of being a bystander in any situation. If she could do something about whatever was happening in front of her, she couldn’t ignore it. Whether she’d benefit from it or not was never a concern. If she could help, she would, and she would never forgive herself if she didn’t.

2020:
somn profund si greu –
precum o hibernare
a unui vis alb…

2021:
sapte tatami,
patutz, si o lumina
imbietoare…

2022:
imbietoare
promisiunea somnului,
iarna, in futon…

2023:
iarna, in futon,
ninsori peste pleoape, si
intunericul…

2024:
intunericul –
caldul asternutului
leganand a somn.

2025:
leganand a somn,
marinari si barci plutind –
cantecul lunii…

2026:
cantecul lunii,
adoarme Realul si –
trezeste Visul…

the ex-boyfriend’s favourite recipe funeral committee – saki kawashiro

*******

“There is so much disconnect between reason and emotion that you’ve broken your mental equilibrium,” Hozumi observed.

*******

“This was before I joined the temple, when I was working for the trading house. I was going through a difficult time, and I turned to books. I found the words of people who were in the middle of their struggles more meaningful than those of people who had already made it through to the other side of the tunnel.”

*******

When you’re the one who’s always giving, the one who’s constantly supporting others, you forget that you’re allowed to ask for help. When someone lends you a hand, you feel a sense of guilt. It makes you feel as if you’re being selfish. When guilt becomes an ingrained habit, it’s not easily removed.

*******

There’s no better feeling than satisfying someone’s food cravings after they’ve made it through a really long day.

2020:
sunt energie.
si lumina de suflet.
stralucirea sa.

2021:
in felinare
traiesc vietile mele
anterioare…

2022:
anterioare:
seri de intuneric ce
stau neghicite…

2023:
stau neghicite,
zile de fericire –
in drum spre tine…

2024:
in drum spre tine,
ca un covor de lava
a nerabdarii…

2025:
a nerabdarii
lucire a-mplinirii:
coroana de spini…

2026:
coroana de spini
pe fruntea primaverii:
inca e iarna…

the ex-boyfriend’s favourite recipe funeral committee – saki kawashiro

*******

I wanted to howl and wail and let out every sound I had inside of me with so much intensity that you would be able to actually see the emotions pouring out of my mouth.

*******

A million could-haves floated above the bed, going round and round in circles all through the night.

*******

“It’s too late to turn back now; I might as well see it through. Besides,” Iori said with a somewhat lonesome grin, “you need to let your heart break completely when the opportunity arises, or else you’ll lose your chance to heal properly forever.”

*******

“Anyway, I was saying, in life, we encounter many kinds of suffering, like disease, aging, or having to be with someone you dislike. In Buddhism, these unavoidable sufferings experienced by humans are categorized as shikuhakku, or the four sufferings and eight sufferings.”
[…]
“You’re doing something extraordinary. You’re fighting shikkuhakku. You said that you were going round in circles like an idiot, but there’s no need to beat yourself up like that.”

2020:
noian de ploaie
pasi de ocean inghetat.
si deznadejde.

2021:
bolte de gheata
urzind nori de poveste –
ninge cu vise…

2022:
ninge cu vise:
promoroaca atrasa
inspre Posibil…

2023:
inspre Posibil:
filele de zapada
scriu epistole…

2024:
scriu epistole –
cu turturi le scrijelesc
cu un “p.s.: te…”

2025:
cu un “p.s.: te…
voi mereu iubi, si in
vietile ce vin…”

2026:
vietile ce vin,
ca niste anotimpuri:
tu, sa te bucuri…

the night of baba yaga – akira yotani

*******

Ah, she was no good … Whenever someone said this about her, which was often, she refused to believe it.
[…]
People like her were born to die fighting. She had no choice.

*******

“I guess you learn to sense the footsteps, just before you hear them.”

*******

“I guess this means we’re going to hell!” she said. “Going? Fuck no!” Shindo hit the gas and yelled over the wind. “This is it!”

*******
ce rasturnare de situatie! ce scriere atenta tesuta! ce scriitura! ce deznodamant!…

2020:
amurg de frunze
ratacite de celest –
picturi pe pamant

2021:
bufnita privind
intinderea marii de
intelepciune…

2022:
intelepciune –
povestile frunzelor
sub pasul vremii…

2023:
sub pasul vremii,
doar trecutul; deasupra,
pluri-viitor…

2024:
pluri-viitor:
atatea realitati,
doar o iubire.

2025:
doar o iubire
persistand printre ani cu –
intensitate.

2026:
intensitate:
o putere arzanda,
frunze de toamna…

2020:
ploaie de inghet –
un melc micutz culcusit
in sinea-i insasi.

2021:
prin ceata ploii
lumina de felinar
precum stea de far…

2022:
precum stea de far
ideea de speranta,
omnipotenta…

2023:
omnipotenta
razelor persistente;
pe timp de ploaie…

2024:
pe timp de ploaie,
pana si gandurile
stau sub umbrela.

2025:
stau sub umbrela,
ca o broscuta sub
o floare de nufar…

2026:
o floare de nufar
inflorind petalele –
spre suflet zboara…

the night of baba yaga – akira yotani

*******
“ […] And once you and your opponent are lined up, you turn toward one another and bow.”
“See, that’s exactly what I hate about it.”
“Well, I like it. The formality is like a ritual for me. It clears my mind. That’s why etiquette is so important.”

2020:
cantec de zambet,
plutirea estivala
a alegriei.

2021:
imensitatea
toamnei curge cascade –
meditatie…

2022:
meditatie:
culorile frunzelor,
nuanta varstelor…

2023:
nuanta varstelor,
reflectand culorile
intelepciunii…

2024:
intelepciunii,
transformarea frunzelor,
ca o ofranda!…

2025:
ca o ofranda
se astern nuantele
prezentului – tau…

2026:
prezentului – tau
creioane colorate
aseaza-i intre…

the night of baba yaga – akira yotani

*******

No way in hell was she spending it back at the compound. The yakuza had built themselves a world of bullshit, based on those in power keeping those below them on their knees. They loved acting high and mighty, with their honor and their chivalry, but it was all a front.

the night of baba yaga – akira yotani

*******

Her dirty hands flopped at her knees. When the car went over a bump, a wad of phlegmy blood fell from her mouth onto her chest.
[…]
Light glanced off of the paint job. It was the sort of evening when the sunset burns. The glass towers of Shinjuku were tinted red, as if blood was streaming down the window panes.

*******

Chiseled blocks of fine white stone, stacked high in neat rows, topped off with accordion wire. Keeping people out. Or keeping something in.

*******

un roman extrem de vizual-detaliat, aproape ca pare scris cu o ecranizare in ganduri…