Gravity
written by: Shinsaku Ashida
On Earth,
they teach us
that no star exists
without gravity.
And so the children—
don’t they begin
to long for gravity,
to try
to become stars
just for that?
Feigning gravity,
flaunting it,
unable to believe
they’re allowed
to go without—
don’t they grow into adults
desperate
to be needed
more than necessary?
Stars,
don’t they flicker
as if they have
nowhere they must go?
Don’t they fall
like meteors,
as if there’s
nowhere
they must stay?
Shinsaku Ashida is a Japanese poet whose work has appeared in Down in the Dirt, Neologism Poetry Journal, and Trondheim Poesi Café, as well as in over 130 newspapers, magazines, and literary festivals across Japan. He writes in both Japanese and English, often exploring themes of memory, mortality, and silence. His work has been accepted by the Academy of the Heart and Mind, and he has won several poetry awards. He believes in the power of poetry to bridge the personal and the political, and to speak to what often goes unspoken.
