A

I. Pin~pon~pan~pon~

The Wabi Sabi Museum
Is asking the public
For donations
To help pay for
The new hardwood flooring
With which
All of the old, blotchy-coloured
Cracked cement floor will be covered

NE

II. Pan~pon~pin~pon~

Two Thursdays ago
At around five pm
At the selfsame Wabi Sabi Museum
While it was quite busy and bustling
I overheard a woman say to a man:
“Most of the artwork here is walking around”

The man seemed to think for a few moments
And then typed something on his phone

Fifteen minutes later
Some folks in white coats
With golden crescent lapel pins
Briskly walked into the room
And forcefully took the woman away

The man with whom she was talking before
Seemed very surprised and upset
And appeared to adamantly try to help her
As well as assist her in her resistance
But as soon as she was pulled away
Out of sight from him
He suddenly seemed to be unfazed
At utterly carefree ease, even
Within the minute
He was sipping coffee
And giggling with an older lady
Beside a display
Of celadon vases and cups

BUNWA

III.

The next day
At around six pm
While on my way
To get some tea
From the Museum’s café on the fifth floor
Café Hespérides
(Not Café Cisalpine on the first floor)
I saw a large sign by the terrace garden
Which read:
<<Most sincere apologies from the Wabi Sabi Museum. Unfortunately, this year’s annual Charity Masquerade at the Chateau Tachibana is cancelled on account of the chateau being used for Lady Miyabi Tachibana’s wedding>>

This was news to me!
The masquerade was supposed to be that evening
And I had just got my suit’s torn sleeve repaired

All of my vast, visceral, stored-up excitement
And saccharine anticipation
And expectation no less honeyed
Which had been slowly
Accreting and crescendoing inside of me
For gradual month after gradual month
Unceremoniously drained out of me with all rapidity, precipitousness…
And paradoxically cunning incidentality most cruel — and most smirkful

Was there any comfort
To be grasped in that the jubilant
Dazzling dahlias before me
Semi-synchronously swaying sweetly
In the breezy terrace garden
Would, a mere handful of months hence
Know and experience for themselves
In their own plantish way
Just how I felt
Right then

“Tsk… c’mon… Lady Miyabi was just married last year…”, I silently grumbled in my own mind with a — to be honest — self-surprising immediacy and readiness of both the thought and its appearance

Walking down the hall to Café Hespérides
I resisted further engagement in spitefulness

And, with great moral effort
Successfully fought off many angry urges…
Also resolving
To not ever give in to the temptation to
(Especially before her birthday
That I knew would be around three weeks later)
Divulge or plan to divulge
Through speech
Or some other medium
That fact that Lady Miyabi
A couple years ago
Serially cheated dozens of times on my cousin Joe
With her Kintsugi instructor

DOKO

IV.

~ ~ ~

I could easily get a copy
Of the copious
Lurid-beyond-lurid video evidence
That Joe has still held onto
And never shown to anyone besides me

Upon revealing it to the world
I could even use the zinger:
“Yeah, Miyabi…”
“It turns out YOUR masquerade is cancelled too!”

Ahh…
…
What am I thinking…

If I really care about Joe
Who made me promise to keep it all secret
Even if I could get his permission
Setting off such a painful and pointless explosion
Certainly wouldn’t in any true way
Help Joe or anyone
Nor would it induce in Miyabi any repentance

~ ~ ~

AI

V. Gradus

I think of how the last few weeks have gone by

Five days ago
All across our empire’s many time zones, Foundation Day celebrations came and went
Two days later
The festivities of First Coronation Day came and went
Then, yesterday
Miyabi the monstrous had her big birthday party
My grandparents forced me to go
To “maintain the peace” they said

SHITEI

VI. Ad

I watched in bored and disgusted stupefaction
As that faithless and perfidious soul
Trotted in a Tachibana orange dress up to an abnormally large gazebo
In which was centrally placed
Her new husband’s orange-and-white-striped gigantic cube-shaped gift box
Topped with its white flowers and large white bow
It was about the size of a normal gazebo

Slipping off her high heels for no reason
She adopted a pugilistic pose
And began to beat the box-to-end-all-boxes with her boxing
Ten seconds passed
And she made that square panel into quite the swiss cheese
Punching began shifting into tearing
And before long
She was riding out of the box on a golden Vespa

As she playfully revved its engine
Applause washed over the garden
Applause which, despite the protestations of every muscle in my body, I contributed to with what I dearly hope appeared to be genuine affectionate enthusiasm

Ah, but even the greatest orange must eventually wither

And so, the day which commemorated the once-blameless Miyabi Tachibana coming into the world also came and went

RU

VII. Parnassum

Now, I am the front door
Of a person I actually admire
A person who
Fortunately for her
Wasn’t at yesterday’s farce
Only because her flight back from Hawaii
Was unexpectedly delayed
From originally being supposed to depart
Two afternoons ago
To actually departing last evening
Or so her grandmother said

Just a few seconds pass
Between my ringing of the doorbell
And that distinct, unique, familiar sound
— An unfathomably poignant blizzard of footsteps
Running down the stairs

Through the light-semi-distorting glass facets
Of the tall narrow window
That lives the middle of the front door
I see the swinging and swinging to a stop
Of a long, black waterfall

Almost instantly after the door is unlocked with a click
It flies open so quickly and forcefully
That one would think there was a hurricane in the place I was standing
And yet it perfectly slows to a stop