The neck of the creature grew very long and fragile, and slowly began to rest its head, with its ears toward the ground as if the sky were playing Chopin. As for guessing the creature’s gender, I hadn’t one clue. Like I mentioned before, its neck stretched and formed itself into a grace-like stem which tempts me into referring to her downward gaze as shy and delicate. On the other hand, the legs of the creature must have been formed by a different wind. They were short, each of the four appearing to have protruded from the same stump. So, of course, his stalky base had me wondering if it was physically straining for him to support such a delicate upper body. I didn’t bother asking, figuring I was much too far away for him to hear my query.
I tried squinting my eye in order to understand the form of the object toward which the creature seemed to direct its sole attention. To me, it appeared as a faint drop of white paint roughly rubbed into a dark-colored carpet. It could have been that someone had accidentally spilled a bit of milk and decided on rubbing it out with their shoe, rather than blotting it out with a wet sponge.
Judging from her blank, yet curious gaze, I felt that the splatter must have looked entirely different up close. I noticed that the creature had opened her mouth a bit since my last glance at her face. She was still staring at the object, a gaze that of a child, marveling at sensations stirring in the synapses, as they whispered their thoughts on the shininess, radiance of color, and beauty in form.
All I could determine was that it was definitely a thing that she had never seen before. Perhaps it was a ghost, a piece of bent metal, or a seashell. I could only guess, and never know, but it soon became apparent to me that it was fruitless to continue in the direction of wondering what another finds intriguing, worthy of attention, or rather, what any creature finds beautiful.
As the creature began to fade, I couldn’t help but notice an angry glare forming beside the lonely, little thing. He tried to hide his anger beneath his beard, but perhaps he and the wind found it fit to wash the creature aside. I avoided direct eye contact, yet couldn’t help allowing him to recognize the presence of my attention. His eyes shifted from the creature onto me, and I did my best not to look away.
His beard wavered, and with that movement, I readjusted my bottom onto another spot of the rock. His stare was strong and direct, much like an emperor’s. So I recognized his majesty and turned my head to another point in the sky. I grew glad that I did when I found a swan sitting amongst her nest of the unborn. She looked upon them most lovingly. As one of the eggs shook, I became excited. I couldn’t see the expression on her face, as she was turned away from me, but I imagined that her excitement outweighed mine. Her child was to be born, and about to be thrown upon a black and empty sky, and nothing I could feel would ever match her expectancy of the moment.
As a river began underneath their atrium, I grew very hot, and decided to move to the space that I had seen another woman, staring at the same things as I. Of course, I couldn’t help but wonder if she had also been admiring the creature, fearing the king, feeling the same envy for the swan as had I. However, she had must have grown hot thereby leaving the pool, and her space was most desirable indeed. As I positioned my body against the rocks, placing my feet upon the wooden pole, I realized a salty taste on my lips. The water had touched my mouth during the move, and my hands had also become salty. I left that thought alone and again tried to find the momma swan, but she had already left the quiet scene with her babies.
At this point, there was only form. All I saw was nothingness. Stars shone in the sky. I wondered which were only stars, and which of them, satellites. I could distinguish those that were merely airplanes. I wondered who was going where. Why are they coming here? Who are they coming to see? Who were they leaving?
Tokyo can be a very strange place.
To some, it is a city of lights, of people, of fun to be had. Of course, it is just like any other big city. As I laid in the pool of hot water, I ignored the fact that I was in Tokyo. It wasn’t hard to do, not at all. The tall bamboo gates, the silence of the night, the frozen trees wavering in the same wind as did the dinosaur, emperor and mother fowl, none of which were Tokyo at all. Anybody can come here and sing in karaoke bars, shop until their heart’s content, become civilized in another of the wished-upon, metropolises of the world. Anyone can lay halfway in a hot bath of spring water, and have their nipples reach toward a cold windy, winter sky. Anyone can experience the wind, the bareness of the winter’s tree, the seriousness of a night’s sky. Anyone, and yes, everyone is welcome here.
