Red Algae and Other Poems

Red algae

The first time I entered the river,
I closed my eyes and dove deeply.
The taste of sand and blood remained on my skin.

Then I began
to dive like someone undressing for the night,
not completely, just enough,
knowing that both in the night and in the river
the sand always comes.

Even the Breath of a Strong Beast Wounds the Landscape

Some archaeologists believe
that the age of worked stones
is in truth the age of
broken stones.
The change occurs
because they believe that primates
did not shape stone by stone with caterpillar friction,
but rather
from the fragments of the fall
they made their spears.
They published the article with the title:
Making weapons
from the fragments
that fall upon us

Namazu

Oarfish measure about six meters.
When they appear, the Japanese say
it is time for earthquakes.
Grammar says: their appearance causes earthquakes.
The lip says: the earthquake causes their appearance.
Today, when one sees an oarfish,
one knows it is time for earthquakes and tsunamis.
The cause-and-effect relations of human influx and outflow
are, however, not yet fully understood.
Some say that every human is a prelude to fire.
Some believe that every carbonization
is a prelude to humans.
It is unknown whether there was war because humans exist,
or whether humans exist because there was war.
When we see humans,
they are left to tell the legend of a primate
that runs like a plant,
hides like a firefly,
contemplates kintsugi,
and knows how to trigger earthquakes
from the possibility
of finding an intergalactic parrot.