Between the Lines #3 ~ The Onsen
The story behind my poem ‘The Onsen’ which was recently published.
‘Between the Lines’ is a series where I share poems I have enjoyed from other poets and/or written myself — taking an informal look at construction, meaning and personal resonance.
The poetry anthology ‘Ourselves in Rivers and Oceans’ was published by The Wee Sparrow Poetry press earlier this year, with all proceeds going to water.org. I entered a poem about my visit to a natural outdoor onsen in Japan, when I was visiting a friend who lived there in 2018. Back then the poem was just these iPhone notes I made that day.
It took until 2023 and the anthology theme of ‘water’ for me to finally capture the experience.
It’s a memory I come back to often. In particular how horrified I was at the size of towel you are given. I knew I had to be naked but had assumed between dips I could cover up. Turns out the towel is more for your face and hands, and women were wearing it folded on their head as they walked around.
There was nowhere to hide.
After stripping off in the communal changing room, you wash yourself sitting on a low stool below a shower, before entering the bathing section. In my Western awkwardness, I was eager to move quickly in some weird attempt to cover my nakedness with speed —a Sonic the Hedgehog approach to onsen bathing, which almost led to huge embarrassment.
As I scurried to the door for the showers, a Japanese woman grabbed my attention and motioned to the other side of the room. I quickly realised I was about a millisecond from bursting back into the reception area. If that wasn’t a lesson in slowing down I don’t know what is! Thankfully the magic of the onsen got to work quickly, and after about five minutes of being completely starkers with the other women, I stopped fixating on the lack of clothes and let their ease at the situation guide me.
There were moments where I felt like I was in a 90’s Herbal Essences advert as the steam rose from the thermal caves, with all manner of nude female forms gliding in and out of the waters. The sense of freedom and sisterhood was something I’ll never forget. It was a very pure sense of being exactly where I was meant to be, at a time in my life when I was feeling the exact opposite.
I can pin point what I felt at the onsen as the start of my life shifting towards meeting my fiancé and building our life together. I woke up the next day and finally made use of the ‘block’ button on my social media. To put a (long overdue) stop to the leaking of my energy towards people who had hurt me was a revelation — life became so much easier and I was happier.
The onsen helped me to reclaim personal peace by showing me where my life didn’t feel as delicious as its waters. It’s interesting that it took until 2023, whilst I was pregnant to finally write about it. I obviously needed to be at the end of the cycle it started to complete the piece.
When it comes to getting a poem recognised or published, The Wee Sparrow Poetry Press are a great indie outlet to send your work to. They don’t charge for the pleasure (unlike most competitions) and accept previously published work.
In the next ‘Between the Lines’ I will be sharing my favourite poems from the anthology — maybe you will find my selection resonates with you too.
Jade x