Excerpt from Time of SKy & Castles in the air

by Ayane Kawata
translated by Sawako Nakayasu

from Time of Sky

1

Blood always blood
As blue is blue
Incessant explosion of a thirst-ripened orange

2

A kiss on the fountain that grows pigeon-like anywhere upon the
trembling mirror that exposes itself

77

There the fossilized eyes and wings and fingers choke their throats
and murmur to each other and—
Spring

78

This is not an orientation
While drowning to death vast numbers of larks
The blood has a dream

from Castles in the Air

Stripes

In the room of an apartment I try to make love with someone I met on the airplane. The body of this young man is completely covered in oily stripes. He is sticky and I fear it might rub off on me.

The white cloud

Just as a white cloud swirled and gushed upward, the figure of a large swan appeared, as if in agony. And then the flock of birds crossing the sky one after another looks similar to clouds floating by. There is a single clear thread shining—it seems that they are moving towards an unpolluted continent, lead by this thread.

Flute

I have a flute in my hands and try to play it, but no sound comes out. I accidentally breathe in and something like a scrap of silver foil gets left behind in my mouth. As I am wondering what it’s like inside the flute, the thin wooden flute splits vertically like a cicada shell, exposing the metallic scraps and grass seed mixed inside. The flute sounds because of something inside it. I put it back together and try again to play it. Still no sound comes out.

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