In Wanting To Make A Mark For Herself Poem by Suki Nakamura

in wanting to mark a name for herself
in the history of the flowing river

every morning she goes there
naked her black hair flowing over her body

her feet soft on the pebbles and with a little shiver
she touches the river with her toes

and then she plunges herself for a dip
she bathes her body and then she sings under the bamboo leaves

beside the great river. The neighborhood takes a look at her
Her beauty and her being naked.And she knew she made it.

Her name is carved on the water and her beauty
Forever flows on the notes of the song of the great river.