A Samurai’s Twisted Sunset (excerpt)

Kind then Cruel 

Paper leaflets rain down 

with less substance than 

the ashes of a butterfly -but their potential 

holds more weight than the 

half-life of two doomed cities. 

Track Endings 

 “I should have ….” Ji ji sighs. 

 “Coward. You’d never do it,” Baba says. 

 “I’m no coward,” Ji ji growls. 

The 5:15 roars towards them.  

“Banzai!” Ji ji screams, living exactly 1.2 seconds. 

Baba keeps a still face only smiling briefly when the first check arrives. 

bullet train screams 

by dust and porn mag 

pages swirl morning departs quick 

*Note: Ji ji and Baba are slightly derogatory or childish terms in Japanese  meaning old man and old woman 

Sun Blisters 

The brutal August heat of Nagoya feels like it is tearing the flesh from my body as the sweat rolls down my face and evaporates as quickly as the Japanese phrases I thought I’d put to memory moments ago.  

A blue and white city bus rumbles up to the curb; a stream of orange Kanji and Hiragana race across the LCD reader on the front of the bus. I wait for the English then climb aboard. I take a seat by the window wondering if I’ll be sitting alone today.  

Soon the bus is filled with the tired faces of early rising salary men dressed in dark blue and black business suits. They chat listlessly or read the newspaper in the aisle and seats around me. A squared faced man sits next to me so close I can smell his hairspray and the lingering cigarette smoke.  

Looking out the window I see an old woman standing on the curb at the number seven stall. She is hunchbacked and her torso is nearly parallel with the sidewalk. In her left hand, she holds an unfurled white umbrella above her head that casts a tiny shadow along her body. For a second as the bus pulls away, I catch her eyes; two brown rocks sweltering in the heat. In her eyes, all I see are questions, something like,  

“Can I live through another summer?

If you enjoyed this excerpt please check out other books by Steve B Howard at the links below. 

More books by Steve B. Howard

The Adamantine River Passage

https://www.amazon.com/dp/1988214130/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_ep_dp_gnEizbJV0K6ZK

Cobweb Stories http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00Y7FPX74

Things You Ran From http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00Y4VQR3U

A Samurai's Twisted Sunset http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00WQGHGL2

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The Dead Along the River Speak to Me

https://store.kobobooks.com/en-US/ebook/the-dead-along-the-river-speak-to-me