Gone — by Katsuo Mifreki

My sister the Ganguro girl
who wanted the baby
more than anything else
when she was 15
just to have something (and not someone) to cuddle.

Grandmother Naoki
who, as a young girl,
went to Place Vendôme looking for Elsa
but never met her
and came back with a silk scarf.

My schoolfellow Takeshi
who once went to Milan
and spent everything on those shoes
then lived for a week
on bananas.

My neighbours Shiro and Kohaku,
the Aristocrat and the Gothic Lolita,
macabre and light-hearted aesthetics clashing
wearing skulls and eating Hello Kitty lollipops
under the cherry trees.

Gone under the rubbles
Gone under the debris
Swallowed by the ruins

Maybe floating on the surface of the Pacific Ocean
in an island of rubbish
swirling
whirling
twirling
travelling far away from me.

Gone.

(km)