Taro Hokkyo (Japan) - THE FIREFLY VILLAGE Revision

 

THE FIREFLY VILLAGE Revision

I had been riding a boat since I was a child, letting the two oars carve a path through rough seas.

One day, when the boat was damaged and brought back to the beach, a boy from the firefly village told me that a woman had sent a postcard. How she knew where I was remains a mystery to this day. After a long phone conversation, she came to that remote village. Together, we repaired the damaged part of the boat using the stylish metal fittings she had brought with her.

The time we spent that early morning, working side by side, passed in an instant. She spoke to me about trends and later, the fleeting nature of those trends was proven true. Perhaps she, too, was searching for her own path.

I came to understand everything only later: my path was not somewhere out there, but my own life one I could not control. I am writing this poem to tell her that. But at that time, we were so absorbed in each other that nothing else existed.

We faced each other, feeling as though we had drawn closer to ourselves. As the day ended and the boat grew dark, we slowly synchronized the flicker of our souls with the fireflies of the village on each other’s skin, in each other’s hair. Since we were going nowhere, the boat became filled with a rich, inner silence.

Biography

Biography Taro Hokkyo

1998 Rekitei Shinei Award in Japan.2021 Arab Golden Planet Award. 2022Awarded the title of Doctor of Letters from the Arabic-speaking world.2023 My poems are published in Orfew.al magazine in Albania. Also translated into Italian2024 My poem is published in the Daily Global Nation in Bangladesh.My poems published in Samantaral Bhabna, India.Interview with an Algerian newspaper is published. My poem is published in Greek Police Magazine. Received a certificate of honor from English poets. Published in a Korean magazine. Published in Koltaka jishu International Poetry Magazine, India. My poem is published in a Greek e-magazine.My poem is published in the Barcelona Literary Magazine. My poem is published in Poetry Planetariat, a Nepalese poetry magazine. My poetry collection is published in Bengali-speaking countries. Three of my poems were published in India's Half-yearly magazine. Three of my poems were published in the Raft of Dreams Literary Magazine. My poem is published in Hyperpoem in Nepal.

Taro Hokkyo Japan