Blue, The Japanese Film, And You Poem by Dennis Ryan

Friday afternoon, May 4,2012; continued February 28 and Tuesday night March 4,2014;
revised Wednesday night, November 23,2016 at 8: 43 p.m.

"I painted a picture this summer.Grapes.A still life."
- my English translation of Kirishima speaking to Endo, in Blue, as they attempt to reconcile

Kirishima asks herself, "How do I express my love? "
while learning how to paint a still life like Cezanne—
it happened one summer day, after she had been given
grapes by Endo,her colors good."Omiyage, " Endo
had said, "A gift" when tendering it. "Budo no naka ni..."
"Grapes inside... "Then "I couldn't tell you I loved
someone else more than you."By the sea Gomen nasai.
Yoi omoitsuki na, fortunate on both occasions, I believe—
Endo's thoughtfulness, her timing, her gift for words.
Umai kangae o omoitsuku. Endo never...wanted
to hurt Kirishima, and Kirishima, for her part, understood,
found herself weeping—later. Trying to catch that late bus
to school, early, then late, at the end of the film—that straight
line of highway, those flat, wide spaces, expanses, the sea
shining behind them.They never.... —no real place
to escape to, for either girl—nevertheless, seen together,
they show us love accepts no substitutes, no, not art,
not anybody's, Kirishima's included, not her deep,
dark blues for grapes meeting the deep blue sea,
the horizon a slightly lighter blue, the trembling point
at which the artist starts to develop, feels life, pays attention.
Things happen, happenstance—artists aren't born, they develop.
Ask Kirishima. "Endo wa sono mama de Endo da, "she says.
"Endo is Endo", Kirishima finally decides."Endo is Endo—
all she really needs to be."And you.How about you?Are you?