Accidental

Of the 36 views of Fuji, this one is the strangest:
the great wave off Kanagawa, frozen and tempestuous,
both sound and silence. It overcomes
itself. Pliant and obsequious, the figures
lie like peas, the unfortunate and necessary
foreground to the mountain.
I contemplate the various: the boats,
the faceless men who man them, the mountain watchful
as a witness to an accident, sighing over shards
of crushed cars, fenders, the spray of vapour so
much like snow. I cannot say which is which:
the fear or the drowning, the water or the wave,
the figures crouched in anticipation
or the visitors in the gallery
on the green and faded carpet.

Cover image by Hokusai

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