Her arms, Her emptiness

*Japanese ver

The other night

I was meeting a woman

At some point
I noticed my eyes were always drawn to her arms

---

She looked very attractive

Her hair
Her eyes
Her mouth
Not to mention, her clothings

But my eyes often went to specifically her arms

She was wearing a dress without sleeves

Her entire arms were exposed

Yet, it’s just arms

“Why am I so attracted to her arms?”

was the question

---

Our chat was going on

And at some point, I noticed
there was no tattoo on her arms

This “discovery” rather surprised me

Because it made me realise
how frequently I see arms with tattoos everyday in this country

to the point where

arms without tattoos = the bare arms = the default state of a human body looks so rare & dazzling now

Certainly her arms were dazzling
Certainly her arms were attractive

---

I moved my eyes to her hands

No manicure

Her nails were slightly longer and nicely shaped,

which implied, she paid enough attention to the details of her body

Yet, no manicure. No rings too

Saw her wrist
— no bracelet

Saw her neck
— no necklace

Saw her ears
— couldn't see them due to her long hair, but I was sure, no earrings

No accessories
No reliance on external decorations
Yet, she looked very attractive

..........One line came to my mind;

"Leave an empty space empty"

---

Every time I go out
I put bracelets on my left arm (rings are always on my fingers)

I wear earrings and a necklace too

Without them
I feel there is something lacking

Without them
my left arm feels too "empty"

I can't forgive a blank space, and
feel an urge to fill this blankness with
something external,
something additional,
something unnecessary

---

A painter once said to me;

"One challenge in painting is keeping a white space"

"Many painters get anxious about it"

"But putting colours all over is not always right. Often, wrong"

And Mishima Yukio once said;

"I can't create that empty space between lines, like Kawabata's novels"

"I always put as many words & sentences as possible"

"Empty spaces frighten me"

---

Her arms revealed a lot about who she is

Her nothingness was dazzling

Her emptiness was attractive