Being Partial

I was a man

and I was trying to save a woman in danger.

I picked her up in my arms

and flew.

Flying like a frog swimming in air

I ditched our nameless pursuer

and landed. There was a guy

waiting for us

who looked

like a king.

Caught.

Now I have to accept the punishment

for saving the woman.

First,

we have to take a shower.

The effect is to loosen

the skin from the muscle

until it peels off.

The woman

picks up the pieces of my skin and

holds them in her hands

and says: I will love each of these

as I loved you.

And I thought: This is what is called

Fetish. And suddenly it came to me that the origin

of the word is fe- as in female, soft, loving, silken —

plus -tissue. Like tissues flying.

Voicing particles waking in waves

over a living body

of water

loose at last

Source: Ainu Dreams (Station Hill Press, 1999)