Akiko Hara lives in Hakone, Japan. She works as an illustrator and gardener’s assistant. She has been published in 森林浴 and The Silent Hand, and has a small pamphlet of poems entitled, Flinch.

On the wet fields, shining silver after rain,

I lie under the sun, thinking of nothing.

I take long lonely walks;

accomplish nothing.

Those who know say,

Does any of it matter?

I say,

Everything matters!