Hokosawa Paper

That's how I'll have to be, taut and tough, like Hokosawa paper.

In order for the rest of the day not to be ruined when I see a kid crying because his parents are screaming at each other in the middle of the street.

It remains to be seen whether I'll be able to survive exposure to the sun, or to the freezing showers, to the dry air of a Japanese winter.

I think maybe I'm doomed to be wax paper.

At least I'll never be a languid sheet of bond, much less a sheet of standard A4.

Maybe what I really am is sheet of recycled scrap paper, and what I really want is to be regular typing paper. Any kind. Like the ones my friends sent me in primary school, like the ones my grandmother used for his letters to me, like the paper of the only letter my father ever sent me, like the paper you use when you write me, my love.