How to say milk? How to say sand, snow, sow,
linen, cloud, cocoon, or albino?
How to say page or canvas or rice balls?
Trying to recall Japanese, I blank out:
it's clear I know forgetting. Mother, tell me
what to call that paper screen that slides the interior in?
Note: “The Dream of Shoji,” “The Dream of Leaves,” “ is reprinted from Brain Fever (WWN 2017), “Found Lines for a Ghazal on Water” is reprinted from The Ghost Forest (WWN 2024), and “The Nest in Winter” is reprinted from Foreign Bodies (WWN 2020).
