OBSERVATION OF A PLAY IN WATER Poem by Shuntaro Tanikawa

To start, her footprints wet with water vanished, and next her cute dimples and innocent eyes vanished. Her pink nails, black curly hair, and knees were gone; by the time the blue sky vanished in a flash, flowers were gone and every possible letter vanished. Of course soldiers vanished as well as tools like gimlets, hammers, pliers and such, which was enough for me to surmise that thoughts must have vanished also. That is to say, all vanished, ranging from the most tangible to the most intangible.

To say "all vanished" to express this condition would be a trite means deployed by indolent poets, but in fact, "all vanished" also had vanished. This means "all vanished also had vanished" had vanished. But allowing no time for indulging in such word games, next moment, a very lively trout appeared, so did, in no time, a stream, a leather briefcase whose owner is unknown, the statute books, and thirteen minutes after two in the afternoon, while lovers were also beginning to appear. Thus in a flash of time, her footprints wet with water appeared again, and the bare tummy and the curled tummy button and the happy broad smile of Miss S (five years and five months of age) also appeared.