Day598【Ground】

A photo-poetic artist who records inner dialogue through photography and words. In the ongoing series “NZPHOTOGRAPH & naozo,” he explores the relationship between his present self “naozo” and his future self “NZ.” Through urban scenes, light, shadow, an

NZPHOTOGRAPH & naozo

Day598【Ground】

Call what remains after everything is stripped away your true self.

DEAR naozo,

What

Remains

That is what

I would ask

People

Build themselves

By adding

One thing

After another

A name

A title

Experience

Recognition

Relationships

They layer

What they acquire

Onto themselves

And begin

To believe

That is

Who they are

Yet

Sometimes

I wonder

What would remain

If all of it

Were stripped away

When pride is lost

Recognition disappears

What you built collapses

And even the words

To describe yourself

Are gone

Still

Something

Remains

Something bare

That cannot

Be decorated

Or concealed

I believe

The self

Is not completed

By addition

Perhaps

It appears

Only after

We are stripped

We lose

And everything

Unnecessary

Falls away

It need not

Be beautiful

It need not

Be strong

It need not

Be recognized

By anyone

What remains

Without disappearing

May be

Your ground

We tend

To describe ourselves

By what we possess

But the question

That truly matters

Is what remains

After it is gone

Call what remains

After everything

Is stripped away

Your true self

What do you think

from NZ

This story is a work of fiction. Except for the named individuals, all elements are products of imagination.

The boundary between reality and fiction is intentionally ambiguous, and its interpretation is left to the reader.