Miharu Yano
Winter 2025 | Poetry
La Chianina
for Ito Hiromi
The poet claims she too would’ve been nonbinary
If she were in college now
A backhanded confession
That makes my teeth and spine loosen in relief
Witnessing a public coming out
She explains
How her neutered dog can’t get a boner
And her half-coyote pup is feral and in heat
Laugh and laugh, cough and howl—
I doubt her claim as I doubt mine
Can we all admit our observations like Chianina
Whose vision is their dominant sense?
An exquisite draft animal. Sometimes I use words
My tongue slips, a blatant admission one withheld in
The fiber of my osmosed threads
My bloody nose disqualifies me
Nudge the bowels of your cowlick
To make space for yourself, please
Miharu Yano is a poet and translator from Tokyo, Japan. They currently live in Iowa City, where they are pursuing an MFA in Literary Translation. They are Coeditor-in-Chief of Exchanges: Journal of Literary Translation.