Teleportation Experiments at Village Yokocho

赤 (red)

the word that comes before

a baby

I haven’t had takowasa since I moved to New York

or beef tongue—

for that matter

What I really want is pig intestine

but where can I find that around here?

I think about the one I met

in a two-seater smoke room

at a yakiniku restaurant

in Roppongi

How I left her on read

when she wished me a happy new year

Now,

the waiter has found me out

must’ve been the way I pronounced

スナギモ

sharp edge on the 'gi'

the whole word flat, like

a thin, black line.

(The part of the bird that

breaks down what it consumes

(may contain stones)).

I shred the muscle between my teeth

I pretend I’m in Tokyo when really

I’m walking through UNIQLO

in a Brooklyn mall

I keep telling myself

I’d give anything

to sit at the counter

order a ダシマキ

with green onions

light my Marlboro Light

poke at the grated radish

I don’t care to make sense anymore

It’s not a problem Wordsworth had

when describing toast.

You put it in your mouth—

and you know