Teesta Review: A Journal of Poetry, Volume 1, Number 2. November 2018. ISSN: 2581-7094
Fork in the Road
--- Yosuke Tanaka
Strong, when it spills out, from inside,
like anger,
it approaches you. (Watch your step
in exchanges of words
crossing many railway points,
or you’ll be caught up
in difficult relationships.
Like a signal lighting up in the darkness,
suddenly there’s a blooming flower in your heart.
For this invisible flower
you want to give everything you have now.
Blossoms
on Ginza holidays in May,
though the cherry petals
have already long fallen
Blossoms
scattering
on Egawa TarÅzaemon.
Do you enter
the cool depths of the mountains,
newly green like matcha?
Do you skirt their perimeter?
In Izu at the start of summer,
like an act of kindness,
a fork in the road.
(Translation: Andrew Houwen and Yosuke Tanaka)
Draining
(Tottori Artist in Residence Festival)
--- Yosuke Tanaka
Draining a dammed pond begins with a
purification –
one shot is forbidden, two sake shots
are downed.
We descend to where the water level’s
low
inside the dam’s drained area.
The October stream’s cold. Wearing waterproof
socks,
as soon as my feet sink into the
water’s mud,
the shadows of silver scales brush
against my leg –
I’ll catch them with a large scooping
net.
Dripping from the net, the mud spreads
a rich fragrance.
Just then, an expert strikes the water
like a bear,
catching the carp in both hands, then
rises up from the water.
Let’s go and see the draining, let’s
seize the moment!
A young girl’s nail torn off, she
disappeared into the night.
With a sense of relief, the fishers go
down the mountain.
(Translation:
Andrew Houwen and Yosuke Tanaka from
I’d Love to Go to Mont Saint-Michel)