Watermill at Ondenv, by Martin Willitts, Jr

Watermill at Ondenv, by Katsushika Hokusai (Japan) 1830.

Watermill at Ondenv

The wheel rotates water into a slide. Women take buckets away while other women are bringing empty buckets. The wheel brings water regardless if anyone takes any water away. 
 
Men carry sacks of wheat to be ground into smaller grain. The wheel rolls over the grain in another circle, churned by the water. As the water turns, so does the wheel. The wheel crushes the wheat into almost dust. The wheel never stops. The number of men carrying bags never stops. The water never stops. 
 
The sun follows the moon on a bridge as it crosses over the sky. 
 
This world has motions this repetitive. This is useless pursuit. Not even Mount Fuji can explain why. I am dizzy watching this turning activity.
 
Is it possible for a day to avoid following another day by skipping the endless cycle of days?
 
My paintbrush makes small, tight circles: Light and Dark walk on the same circular path around Mount Fuji, wearing it down. 
 
 
                                          This world is a grain 
                                          carried in a sack, then ground 
                                         into fine laughter.


​Martin Willitts, Jr

Martin Willitts Jr has 24 chapbooks including the winner of the Turtle Island Quarterly Editor’s Choice Award, The Wire Fence Holding Back the World (Flowstone Press, 2017), plus 16 full-length collections including The Uncertain Lover, Coming Home Celebration. Forthcoming books include Harvest Time (Deerbrook Press) and the Blue Light Award winner The Temporary World. He is an editor for Comstock Review.