Silence shattered
by the morning sound of a lawnmower —
I wake abruptly.
My body is uncooperative,
Yet I go out to exercise.
6d ago
May 29, 2026 at 4:33 AM UTC
Silence shattered
by the morning sound of a lawnmower —
I wake abruptly.
My body is uncooperative,
Yet I go out to exercise.
A contemporary tanka about postwar anxiety and the fragile return to ordinary life. The sudden sound of a lawnmower becomes a psychological trigger, awakening the body before the mind. Yet despite exhaustion and fear lingering in the nervous system, the poem ends with a small act of resilience: exercise, movement, continuation.
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