Impresie. Albastru inefabil…

honey in the wound – jiyoung han

*******

Father, mother, brother, she would join in the earth. She shut her eyes and curled into her fallen kin. What she could not see, she did not have to accept.

*******

In receiving this tea, Seiko unknowingly drank from the well of the girl’s unspeakable sorrow and shed it as her own.

*******

She crafted elaborate stories about their character in her head, surprised how easily the conjectures came with each additional detail her eyes picked up. She had never thought to assume a narrative of others’ emotions, to extrapolate their inner lives. How much had she missed in the past when all she focused on was herself, on how she might better please others with what she served?
[…]
“Public life’s a performance,” he continued. “If you want to be able to read people, you must make them think their actions are private. People will be quicker to reveal their true selves if they think no one’s watching.”

2021:
pe timp de toamna,
lemnul devine frunze –
podet plutitor…

2022:
podet plutitor,
mesterit din trunchiuri de
toamna si-alte vremi…

2023:
toamna si-alte vremuri,
anotimpuri inverse:
anti-tipare…

2024:
anti-tipare:
in mijloc de vara, un
suflet tomnatic.

2025:
suflet tomnatic,
nascut imbatranit, din
suflarea verii…

2026:
suflarea verii,
ca o sarutare de
buze in rosu…

2021:
martisorului
impletind anotimpuri
ii lipseste ac…

2022:
ii lipseste ac
transfuziei de Frumos prin
venele mele…

2023:
venele mele –
culori de foc si gheatza,
sange roz intens…

2024:
sange roz intens
picurand in albeata –
pete de toamna…

2025:
pete de toamna:
rubine-n foi de aur –
prima ninsoare.

2026:
prima ninsoare:
ce amalgam de culori,
si anotimpuri!…

honey in the wound – jiyoung han

*******

As he gathered his furs, the most enchanting sound Geum-Jin had ever heard rang out from behind him. It spoke human words, yet could not be a human voice, for it was clearer than the delicate chirp of a songbird and more beautiful than the sound of any instrument that could have been crafted by men.
[…]
Jung-Soon did not discover her voice could compel the truth until she was old enough to go into town with her attendant.

*******

“Why are you wooing me?” “I love your voice and how you use it. I want to hear it every day until the day I die.”

*******

“You won’t like my voice if I ask you questions you don’t want to answer. I can force you to show parts of yourself you wish to conceal.” Jung-Soon scanned his flushed face for an apprehension she hoped not to find. “There’s nothing I want to hide from you. Your voice makes it easier to tolerate the truth.” Geum-Jin stepped closer, the steam of his breath warming her nose. “It’s not always good to hear the truth,” she said with a sad smile, looking away as Geum-Jin drew nearer. “People’s truths can be cruel.” “Nothing would be crueler than never hearing your voice again,” he whispered in her ear. Jung-Soon blushed and met Geum-Jin’s eyes. There, she saw herself reflected in his truth.

*******

ma incanta povestile de indragostire…

2021:
toamna ascunzand
curcubeu – prizonier
in timp si frunze…

2022:
in timp si frunze –
culori nemaivazute,
intelepciune.

2023:
intelepciune:
cautarea luminii,
multele umbre.

2024:
multele umbre,
in nuante cazatoare
isi lasa umbra…

2025:
isi lasa umbra
sa umble pierduta prin
visul ravasit…

2026:
visul ravasit
de soare, isi cauta –
razele lunii…

honey in the wound – jiyoung han

*******

Green sprouts spread on Dahn’s chest where his wife’s weeping head lay, spilling tiny leaves down his shoulders and onto the forest floor. Guttural sounds neither beast nor human, perhaps from the earth itself, rang through the forest as Dahn bled out.
[…]
Myoung-Ok let out one final wail as her body crumbled into a pall of grave dirt and grass, engulfing her lost love in a final embrace as she, too, surrendered to the earth.

*******

Desperation gnawed at the empty stomachs of the villagers. What little food the farmers managed to produce was confiscated and shipped overseas to cater to the rising needs of the Japanese Empire. They were left with meager government rations, if that, and resorted to pouring more water into their flavorless gruels to make them last longer.
[…]
Hungry and humiliated, the country broiled with protest. Farmers, students, scholars, workers, poets: all linked arms to push against the emperor of Japan.

*******

*imi doresc sa stiu a desena sau picta.
*reversul medaliei nipone

honey in the wound – jiyoung han

*******

“No, our parents can’t leave. They belong to this mountain, and the mountain will care for them in its own way. But you and I are different. We can still go somewhere human destruction can’t follow us.”

*******

Letting her tears fall into his palms, she said, “Rub this into our parents’ feet while they sleep, and their souls will not run from their bodies. But don’t tell anyone I was here or the medicine won’t work.”

*******

am citit “un veac de singuratate” acum multi ani, iar scriitura imi aminteste de sentimentele acelei lecturi – voce evocativa, de poveste la gura focului, in balansoar, si un univers mistic, cu magie…

2021:
raza de soare
suflarea trecutului
ravasind modern.

2022:
ravasind modern,
tren fura lumina din
templul de carbuni…

2023:
templul de carbuni,
pe cer scrijelind semn de
prosperitate…

2024:
prosperitate:
o sageata de aur
pe-un cer-diamant.

2025:
pe-un cer-diamant,
un colier decorat
haotic. noapte.

2026:
haotic. noapte.
cand iti simti existenta
ninsa cu stele?…

2021:
citesc imagini
in ceasca mea de cafea.
matineu nipon.

2022:
matineu nipon –
sperante calatoare;
zile cu senin.

2023:
zile cu senin:
seninatatea e in
cer, si nu numai…

2024:
cer, si nu numai:
dau inapoi iubirea
pentru ea, Japo.

2025:
pentru ea, Japo,
armonia interna
i-e innascuta…

2026:
i-e innascuta
privirii, cautarea;
incantatoare.

honey in the wound – jiyoung han

*******

Myoung-Ok came to know what she would name her children only after feeling their weight press into her arms: geum, or gold, in hopes they might prosper in a way she never had herself. The sudden provenance of this wish surprised her, as she had always been more concerned with the gold of a fallen gingko nut than with the gold of a coin.

*******

she repeated what she said to him the day he nearly killed her: “I feel your footsteps in my chest.”

*******

Myoung-Ok cultivated her children’s love for the earth so that the earth would love them in return.

*******

When she asked Myoung-Ok about the village, her mother clucked and told her that life was better in the mountains. “People bring the burden of expectation,” she said. “Being trapped in that expectation is suffocating, even for the richest yangban in the village.”

record of a night too brief – hiromi kawakami

*******

The cells were gradually forming themselves into shapes—commas, ribbons, balls, all sorts of other weird things—and finally they turned into something that resembled a girl.

*******

And the night, enveloped by that presence, reached its deepest and darkest state of being, the darkness a kind of truth in itself.

*******

If I listened carefully, I could hear rustling sounds falling like rain around me. It was the sound of branches growing, and leaves unfurling. The sound was fresher and more vital than the one I had heard from within the girl’s body.
The vegetation surrounding the girl grew thick and luxurious, eventually becoming a forest.

*******

I had the feeling I was about to remember something I had forgotten. Because it was something I had forgotten, I had no idea what it might be, but it felt as if I was going to remember it any moment now.

*******

We slept deeply, dreaming our dreams, which rose and burst like bubbles many, many times in the space of the night.

2021:
pe acoperis
mi se creste un munte –
precum si-n suflet…

2022:
precum si-n suflet –
magazin de emotii
insorind zapezi…

2023:
insorind zapezi,
arunca niste doruri
mistuitoare…

2024:
mistuitoare
privirile spre Fuji –
flacari si gheatza.

2025:
flacari si gheatza:
vulcan dormind prin versuri
de sonet toscan.

2026:
de sonet toscan
povesteste sufletul,
in ras nebunesc…

2021:
vegheati-mi pasii,
frunze-ale amurgului,
carari de toamna!…

2022:
carari de toamna –
decorul razelor, o
dantela de foc…

2023:
dantela de foc:
al iernii este toamna
voal de mireasa…

2024:
voal de mireasa:
evantaiul frunzelor,
imbracand Toamna…

2025:
imbracand Toamna
in tesaturi brodate
din lacrimile…

2026:
din lacrimile
unui vis de vara, iti
pictez frunzele…

record of a night too brief – hiromi kawakami

*******

SCHRÖDINGER’S CAT

How would one describe the girl now, as she was inside the box? It was like she was there, only she wasn’t; or like she wasn’t, except that she was. Or maybe she occupied an indeterminate state of being, both there and not there, in exactly equal amounts.

*******

Why did I smash the box? I thought bitterly. But how could I have stopped myself?
How could anyone endure such a state, of having someone there and not there—not there and there—at the same time? Deeply indignant at this quandary of quantum physics, I cried and cried.

record of a night too brief – hiromi kawakami

*******

My mass had been missing for a while. You tend to assume that without any mass you wouldn’t exist. But I was definitely there. Hard to believe, but it was true.

*******

The light was shining out of a corner of the night sky.

*******

Her hand as she touched my lips smelt of the night.

2021:
flori de ciresi
scuturandu-se lent in
sotronul vietii…

2022:
sotronul vietii
se joaca din petale,
nu pietricele…

2023:
nu pietricele
sunt cele pretioase,
ci vietuirea…

2024:
ci vietuirea
rozului nepamantesc –
al parfumului…

2025:
al parfumului
efect misterios: cum
de fericire?…

2026:
de fericire,
si spiritu’-mi se-nclina:
ce reverenta!…

2021:
campii de orez –
tablouri de teatru si
arta si picturi…

2022:
arta si picturi –
decor semi-efemer
pe scena vietii…

2023:
pe scena vietii,
fiecare orizont,
propria-i cortina…

2024:
propria-i cortina,
privirii ii devine
etern – (s)clipire…

2025:
etern – (s)clipire:
azurul cerului de
vara, efemer…

2026:
vara, efemer,
ma mai racoresc niste –
ganduri de iarna…

record of a night too brief – hiromi kawakami

*******

No matter how much I poured into the cup, it never filled. And then I realized that the liquid I assumed to be coffee had, unbeknownst to me, turned into night.
Peering into the night as it poured into the cup, I could see tiny stars and gases whirling near the surface, and down at the bottom, something laughing. In dismay, I took the cup to a sink, and tipped it so that all the night it contained would spill out, but as long as I held it there, the night kept on flowing, interminably.

record of a night too brief – hiromi kawakami

*******

The scent of her breath was like the odour of lilies at full bloom, and the sound of her breath coming out of her mouth was like a butterfly faintly beating its wings.

*******

The girl became more and more mixed and homogeneous with me, until in the end I lost track of whether the girl was me, or I was the girl. It was only then that I started to love her, and to miss her. I loved and missed something I couldn’t define, some combination of us both.

2021:
luna-capsunea,
in pasteluri fondante
indulcind noaptea…

2022:
indulcind noaptea,
culorile capata
iz de dulceata…

2023:
iz de dulceata:
dintr-o fotografie
irump dulci-priviri…

2024:
irump dulci-priviri:
Regina Noptii oare-i
Luna sau Floare?!…

2025:
Luna sau Floare?!…
cerul noptii inflorit,
intr-un trandafir.

2026:
intr-un trandafir,
cuvinte de dragoste;
oare va-nflori?…

2021:
ne indepartam;
si totusi, in privire
imi esti aproape.

2022:
imi esti aproape:
fire invizibile
inca ne leaga…

2023:
inca ne leaga
doua destine, doar o
destinatie…

2024:
destinatie:
cand zapada culmilor
se desface-n nori.

2025:
se desface-n nori
un cer cu soare – joaca
de-a fantezia.

2026:
“de-a fantezia” –
titlu de roman visat,
tren de vacanta…

record of a night too brief – hiromi kawakami

*******

When she sang high notes, flocks of birds took flight from the branches of the gingko trees. When she sang low notes, the earth heaved, and small furry creatures emerged from underground and crawled about.
[…]
the singer commenced singing. It was as if an immense musical instrument was filling the firmament with sound, or as if the melody of her song was swimming through the skies… In the next moment her voice had overwhelmed all else, and rather than listening, we seemed to be encompassed within it. No longer able to know the words, we were conscious only that her lilting voice was, slowly and powerfully, all around us.

*******

“Where are we going?” I enquired. The girl nodded several times, her eyes closed, looking unworried.
“Where?” I asked again.
“The night,” she replied.
With that, her head tilted downwards, and she fell into a deep sleep. She was carried along as she slept.
Now a part of the chaos, alongside the girl, I entered the night.

record of a night too brief – hiromi kawakami

*******

What was that itch on my back? I wondered. And then I realized that it was the night—the night was nibbling into me. It wasn’t that late, still only twilight, but the darkness seemed to have collected just above my shoulders. A black clump of it had fastened onto me, eating away at my back.
[…]
The itchiness became unbearable. I scratched frantically. The more I scratched, the more the darkness ate into my back, and the more the darkness ate into my back, the more I itched.

*******
o carte la care ma intorc din cand in cand pentru a reciti fragmentele preferate care imi amintesc cumva de Boris Vian, si mi-l aduc mai aproape.

2021:
si universul
isi imprastie, oare,
cerul prin ciresi?…

2022:
cerul prin ciresi –
primavara scrijelind
kanji mistice…

2023:
kanji mistice:
scriind secretul Vietii,
ramuri de copaci…

2024:
ramuri de copaci:
umbrela cu parfumuri
dens colorate…

2025:
dens colorate,
florile de cires ning –
fragmente de vis…

2026:
fragmente de vis:
iata cum se intregesc,
deschizand ochii…

kiki’s delivery service – eiko kadono

*******

‘I’ve taken a shine to you. Don’t worry. Plus, I think there’s something a little bit wonderful about having a witch stay at our place.’

*******

‘It will – witches don’t need much. You can see how simple my clothes are, and I don’t eat a lot. My plan is to just accept that if I don’t have something, I probably don’t need it.’

*******

Also, since you’re the one doing the deliveries, you should add your name. “Kiki’s Delivery Service” sounds good, right?’