Avash Byanjankar
Every day Yuki does this dance of hers, dried leaves windswept,
an early spring welcome against the Beppu breeze, hilltops
sulfur-steamed playing hide and seek with the elder flowers,
bush warblers slow-trilling from tree to tree. Hear the tide
coming in in brushes, a new treasure left behind each time
it leaves. Wet logs half-gnawed by the sea, wharf roaches
already at home atop them, empty bottles sometimes
with letters inside, Spanish mackerel two feet too far
from home, ants crawling from inside like dandelions
between rocks. On this shore where sunlight feeds us
refractions by the handful, mornings hide inside the rest
of the day like burs on the back of your sleeves. In the house
next to ours
azaleas blooming.
Avash Byanjankar is a poet from Patan, Nepal, based in Beppu, Japan. His poems explore place, memory, and language across the two countries he calls home. He is a doctoral candidate at Ritsumeikan Asia Pacific University.
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