Poetry International Poetry International
Poem

Rin Ishigaki

CLIFF

At the end of the war,
One after another women threw themselves off
A clifftop on Saipan.

For virtue or duty or appearances
Or something.
Pursued by flames or men.

Because they had to leap they leapt.
A somewhere which is nowhere.
(The cliff always turned the women upside-down)

You see
Not one of the women reached the ocean.
Now that fifteen years have passed
I wonder what has happened?
To those
Women.

CLIFF

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CLIFF

At the end of the war,
One after another women threw themselves off
A clifftop on Saipan.

For virtue or duty or appearances
Or something.
Pursued by flames or men.

Because they had to leap they leapt.
A somewhere which is nowhere.
(The cliff always turned the women upside-down)

You see
Not one of the women reached the ocean.
Now that fifteen years have passed
I wonder what has happened?
To those
Women.

CLIFF

At the end of the war,
One after another women threw themselves off
A clifftop on Saipan.

For virtue or duty or appearances
Or something.
Pursued by flames or men.

Because they had to leap they leapt.
A somewhere which is nowhere.
(The cliff always turned the women upside-down)

You see
Not one of the women reached the ocean.
Now that fifteen years have passed
I wonder what has happened?
To those
Women.
Sponsors
Gemeente Rotterdam
Nederlands Letterenfonds
Stichting Van Beuningen Peterich-fonds
Ludo Pieters Gastschrijver Fonds
Lira fonds
Partners
LantarenVenster – Verhalenhuis Belvédère