In honor of National Poetry Month, we’ve pulled this week’s excerpt from one of our poetry collections, Other Side River, a collection of Japanese poems featuring the work of 36 modern Japanese women poets, all of whom write in an "imported" Western verse form and astonishes us with their diverse viewpoints, rhythms, themes, and insights.
Throughout April we’ve only been able to share shorter poems, so we thought it would be a nice change to throw in some longer free verse poetry. These three poems were written by Miyuki Aoyama, one of the many talented writers in the collection. Enjoy!
SPRING
under the cherry blossoms, warmed by the earth's smell
a man is hanging from a rope
his eyelids convulse
the man drifts in and out of his dreams
a girl’s taut breasts softly grow rounder
the snake he saw yesterday returns
and eases up the trunk of the tree
the man’s grip releases
many things have been thrown at his feet
on the tip of his swaying fingers
one transparent petal remains
FEBRUARY
the field of wheat is drying out
the field mouse has shrived up
i see teeth in its half-opened mouth
in the dead of the night
a cat with a distorted body leaps and leaps
the cat moans in a baby’s voice
a woman with a low temperature slowly strolls the field
hearing the woman’s footsteps
the flesh underfoot grows sullen
PEACH
a ripe peach falls
the peach sinks in the heavy summer air
a stifling hot wind pushes it up from under
a woman in her ninth month digs a hole
i put a slippery thing in my mouth
and feel a sudden nausea
a woman gives out a scream behind the dark shoji
all at once, the children become sleepy
the blackened peach in the air
the dog with a black penis slowly goes crazy
For more info about Other Side River or to order a copy, click here.