Inside

based on photographs from Rural Japan: Radiance of the Ordinary /afloat two boats with no riders still moving on water the hulls barely touching each with a single oar safely propped so it won’t fall /lotus leaves close into themselves at night on their wide folded backs water beads inside, their sleeping flowers /inside do the carp just below the water’s stillness see the pines /fall daikon just pulled from the soil these pungent roots hang from bamboo poles their white tubed bodies bend as if slightly aroused each ripe radish will be drenched in salt then eaten raw all winter /lone pine ancient tree with so many tongues how long this throated stem this stillness before rain