A large window faces the St. Joseph River.
Small steps divide the carpet and glass, so I lift myself
taller and balance with my fingertips over the narrow space.
The frame crops any moment of the sky.
Rain ripples of spring moss, summer tadpoles,
autumn toads, and winter hibernation.
How wonderful you come with me this time.
Can you see the bridge over there—we will cross it next.
The river glides and shapes stones.
—
Naoko Fujimoto was born and raised in Nagoya, Japan. Her poetry collections are We Face The Tremendous Meat On The Teppan (C&R Press, 2022), Where I Was Born (Willow Books, 2019), Glyph:Graphic Poetry=Trans. Sensory (Tupelo Press, 2021), and four chapbooks. She is a Bread Loaf Translation full scholarship recipient and a 2023 Visiting Teaching Artist at the Poetry Foundation. Her full-length translation collection, Of Women, is forthcoming from Tupelo Press.
