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  • Nojuku, and: On the Outskirts of Matsumae
  • Freeman Rogers (bio)

Nojuku

When the tail end of a monsoon marooned me for a week          in a free campground                    near Hakodate Bay in north Japan          I met Hiroto

who at twenty wanted only to walk the four-hundred-mile length          of Hokkaido if for no other reason          than to get somewhere

and who before long explained to mein gestures          the idea of nojuku

which I eventually understood to mean the art of traveling          on dollars a day                    sleeping in parks and fields          and eating onigiri rice balls          from 7-Elevens

while always budgeting enough cash                    to bathe in a hot spring                              when you really needed it

and since he invited me to come along as far as I would          we each piled a sleeping bag                    a tent          and a change of clothes                              on our back the next clear day [End Page 220]

and looking like fast-stepping turtles set out toward the north shore                    town of Wakkanai          from which you can see Russia                              if it's not cloudy

and it was while walking along narrow roads through rice fields          and dragonflies                    by the Sea of Japan                              that first week

          with nothing to do all day but mix his pidgin English                    with my pidgin Japanese                    and try with more laughter                              than success

                              to decipherwhat the other really meant to say          that I began to understand how little the lack          of a common language matters

                    to peoplewho are headed in the same direction          and who sweat under the same sun

and so of course I tried to say as much          and I suspect                    Hiroto did the same. [End Page 221]

On the Outskirts of Matsumae

                              Who cares                    if all the details and dreams                              add up to dust

                    and planspan out to nothing          but a pair of open hands                    held heavenward

                              as longas there's still wind in hair          and falling leaves

                              and grace                    can still become                              as simple as an apple          from a lady stooped with age

                    who pities youbecause she sees                    you're out of place [End Page 222]

Freeman Rogers

freeman rogers is a South Carolina native who works as the editor of The BVI Beacon newspaper in the British Virgin Islands. His poetry and other writing have appeared in Slate, Shenandoah, and Oxford American. He is an associate editor of Smartish Pace and a fiction editor of Moko.

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