Aug 10, 2010

THE PLACE I LIKE BEST


私がこの世でいちばん好きな場所は台所だと思う。
どこのでも、どんなのでも、それが台所であれば
食事を作る場所であれば私はつらくない。
できれば機能的でよく使い込んであるといいと思う。
乾いた清潔なふきんが何枚もあって白いタイルがぴかぴか輝く。
ものすごく汚い台所だって、たまらなく好きだ。
床に野菜くずが散らかっていて、スリッパの裏が真っ黒になるくらい汚いそこは、
異様に広いといい。
ひと冬軽く越せるような食料が並ぶ巨大な冷蔵庫がそびえ立ち、
その銀の扉に私はもたれかかる。
油が飛び散ったガス台や、さびのついた包丁からふと目を上げると、
窓の外には淋しく星が光る。
私と台所が残る。自分しかいないと思っているよりは、
ほんの少しましな思想だと思う。

『キッチン』吉本ばなな)

             ***    ***    ***

THE PLACE I LIKE BEST in this world is the kitchen.
No matter where it is, no matter what kind, if it's a kitchen,
if it's a place where they make food, it's fine with me.
 Ideally it should be well broken in. Lots of tea towels,
dry and immaculate. White tile catching the light (ting! ting!).

I love even incredibly dirty kitchens to distraction--vegetable droppings
all over the floor, so dirty your slippers turn black on the bottom.
Strangely, it's better if this kind of kitchen is large.
I lean up against the silver door of a towering,
giant refrigerator stocked with enough food to get through a winter.
When I raise my eyes from the oil-spattered gas burner and the rusty kitchen knife,
outside the window stars are glittering, lonely.

Now only the kitchen and I are left.
It's just a little nicer than being all alone.

(Kitchen by Banana Yoshimoto)

4 comments:

Unknown said...

I relate to this. I feel very safe in the kitchen. The only place I feel like I know what I am doing.

tytty said...

i like this too. especially the vege droppings and black-bottomed slippers bit

natsuki kikuya said...

i know how you feel Natsumi, we are so in control of everything aorund us within the kitchen. veggie dripping and black bottomed slippers! i love it!

natsuki kikuya said...
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