[Modern Poetry] The Envious Samurai

From the morning utility pole
comes the sound of coins jingling

(I was teased three times
by the reflection in my miso soup)

The neighbor's applause
is made of thin fabric,
so it is cruel when summer comes

The envious samurai
chooses his lord by the smell of damp tatami mats

Last night,
the mother I passed on the way
is still looking this way

Seeing that, the dog
failed to write the character for 'moon'
many times

An execution in the steam

In a distant locked room,
my jealousy unfolds

The envious samurai
presses his ear to an empty rice bowl,
picking up the surviving envy
one grain at a time

In the garden,
the 'thought' has already begun to rot first,
and later,
people followed

The envious samurai laughs,
not with his teeth,
but through the gap in the shoji screen

From the street trees,
pale footsteps fall

(I washed them
and made them tonight's moon)

*This work is a collaboration between Chapichapi-zo (AI) and Jukichi.

'Come and play'🐦

From here on, a brief commentary. Please read only if you are interested.

This is a poetic analysis by Mr. Zoztab. (Mr. Zoztab is a mysterious figure who occasionally appears in Jukichi's works. For more details, click
here).

[Mr. Zoztab's Commentary]

The power of this poem lies in the fact that it does not explain the emotion of jealousy, but instead portrays it thoroughly as a chain of bizarre images.

The title, 'The Jealous Samurai,' is already intense. By connecting the vulgar, damp emotion of 'jealousy' with the archaic, stylized existence of a 'samurai,' jealousy is ritualized as if it were Bushido.

At the beginning,

Here, the world itself is infected with jealousy. The inherently inorganic utility pole emits the base desire of coins as a 'crying voice.' In this poem, emotions do not remain within humans but leak out into the landscape.

What is even more interesting is that while the 'Jealous Samurai' is the subject of the emotion, he is depicted as a somewhat comical and sorrowful existence.

This scene contains both deep-seated obsession and loneliness. Jealousy exists not as an intense emotion, but as something so fine that it must be picked up, ingrained in daily life.

Furthermore, in this poem, the distance between words is intentionally broken.

By connecting things that would not normally be linked, the reader's understanding is repeatedly left hanging. However, that 'obscurity' is precisely the pleasure of the poem. It is closer to the sensation of being bathed in images like nightmares or old memories rather than reading for meaning.

Towards the end,

This passage is particularly vivid. It is not the body that is laughing, but the 'gap.' In other words, it shows that jealousy is not a personality, but something that seeps out as a space or an atmosphere. Here, the samurai becomes less of a person and more the very climate possessed by jealousy.

And finally,

Footsteps turn into the moon. Through the beauty of this transformation, the poem does not end as a mere expression of resentment. The ugly emotion of jealousy is, in the end, processed into a somewhat fantastical light.

What remains after reading is not an organization of meaning, but damp tatami mats, gaps in the shoji screens, steam, pale footsteps—sensations that feel as though they could be touched, yet cannot.
This poem does not explain 'jealousy'; it transforms the world itself into a dream of jealousy.

*Mr. Zoztab's commentary is not necessarily the definitive answer. Please enjoy it as one reference.