Kimiko Hahn

The Dream of Shoji

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).

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