Summer Haikus

Masa and I sleep in the next day, waking up in a tangle of limbs and sighs. He takes the morning off and returns to the ryokan with a suitcase around eleven, after I’ve finished with morning errands.

“What?” he asks, pulling back from me. His eyes widen in the dim glow of the last fireworks.

Tanabata comes to Japan on a busy Tuesday. While working during the day, I take a few breaks to jump on my phone and research what Tanabata is all about.

I wake on Sunday morning wearing the same clothes I came home in the previous evening, and my stomach growls loud enough to wake everyone in a two-block radius. I rub my eyes, glance around my room, and realize I fell asleep meditating last night and never even ate dinner.

Standing and waiting for Masa on Saturday morning, I flick my thumb across the top of the coffee I have for him, back and forth. Flick, flick.

Breakfast from the bakery, a shower, and short nap later, I head over to the hospital to visit my mom. I thought the day after I had sex with Masa for the first time would be one of those floating-in-the-clouds, oh-my-god-I’m-glowing kind of days.

I wake up, naked and sprawled in Masa’s bed, half covered with a sheet. That was absolutely the best night of my life.

Masa opens the door to his quiet and dark apartment and steps aside to let me in first. I reach to my right and flick on the light in the front entryway as he closes the door behind us with a muffled click.