Moving In: Joan Four

Found in Four’s notebook titled “Haiku” and dated to February 11, 1953. Translated from Japanese by the Historian

Joan Four

Content Warning

Mild sexual references

The Northern Virginia subdivision where this experiment would take place had recently been built and was ready for the Spartan Housewives on February 9, 1953. Here are their letters and diaries from when they moved in.
Found in Four’s notebook titled “Haiku” and dated to February 11, 1953. Translated from Japanese by the Historian:

Chrysanthemum Cherry bloom,
But petals drift away,
To American shores.

Now plum blossom grows
In a different eastern capital, ^[1]
Where my heart (sound of petals falling)

Vulgar frivolous woman,
Lives next door,
Tiki masks on wall.^[2]

A poet cannot pull a sleigh,
Why is the Alaskan dog,
Named Lawrence?^[3]

As regal as the Empress,
A constellation in our cul de sac ^[4]
How our stars align

The merchant beds with onnagata,
the samurai beds with the page,
I sleep alone.

Pun on the word Tokyo. ↩︎
Likely the poem refers to Four’s move back to America. ↩︎
Three had a Siberian Husky named Lawrence after Lawrence of Arabia. ↩︎
Pun on the name Elizabeth. Likely to poem refers to One. ↩︎