Kawabata’s Onsen

Soundlessly floating
in the night’s distended silence
the ink-black water
of the mist-covered onsen
the blank raven sky above
encircled
by leafless winter branches
the murmur of ripples
drifting graciously
from my pale, naked body
and thoughtless snow
sticking in my wet hair
while dissolving into nothing
on the obsidian water’s surface.

Jefferson Goolsby is an unrepentant lefty, writer, and intermedia artist primarily sourced from Northern California and the Pacific Northwest, but has resided in various overseas geographies for more than eight years. He is currently based in Philadelphia.