Salad Anniversary E-Book

Machi Tawara

• Herausgeber: Pushkin Press
• Kategorie: Poesie und Drama
• Sprache: Englisch
• Veröffentlichungsjahr: 2014

Seitenzahl: 42

Beschreibung

An exquisite collection of Japanese poetry This internationally bestselling book took the world by storm on its publication. Covering the discovery of new love, first heartache and the end of an affair, these poems mix the ancient grace and musicality of the tanka form with a modern insight and wit. With a light, fresh touch and a cool eye, Machi Tawara celebrates the small events in a life fully lived and one that is wonderfully touched by humour and beauty. This book will stay with you through the day, and long after you have finished it.

Leseprobe

MACHI TAWARA

SALAD ANNIVERSARY

Translated from the Japanese by Juliet Winters Carpenter

PUSHKIN PRESS LONDON

Contents

Title PageAugust MorningBaseball GameMorning NecktieI Am the WindSummertime ShipWake-up CallHashimoto High SchoolPretending to Wait for SomeoneSalad AnniversaryTwilight AlleyMy Bisymmetrical SelfSo, Good LuckJazz ConcertBackstreet CatAlways AmericanAfterwordAbout the PublisherCopyright

August Morning

Always playing this song

you race along the seacoast road—

“Hotel California”

I watch you on your surfboard

poised between blueness

of sky and sea

Beach picnic for two—

thinking of egg sandwiches

never even touched

Sitting against a sunny wall—

your legs and mine,

parallel lines

On Kujukuri Beach

taking picture after picture

I may only throw away

Is there anything more?

More to believe, more to want?

Sprawled side by side on sand

Fat oval sun

can’t bear the burden

of its own weight

Under an orange sky on Kujukuri Beach

I snuggle up to you

in monochrome

The gentleness of lapping waves

makes me unafraid

to hear you say good-bye

You and I on the night beach

face to face in silence—

a sparkler softly sputters

Enjoying your hesitation,

I watch you hunt for words

to break the silence

Your left hand,

exploring my fingers one by one—

maybe this is love

This too a memory,

I leave it as it is—

dent in my straw hat

“Call again,” you say, and hang up—

I want to call again

right now

“Sorry,” I say lightly

as if to a friend—

Father just stares into his teacup

In the fitting room

I suddenly find my arms full

of floral prints you like

So huge

it gladdens my heart—

this store’s shopping bag

Happiness of standing before a grocer’s

at four in the afternoon

planning the supper menu

After you have gone

evening gathers in my heart—

all the scenery is you

Another Saturday of waiting for you.

Time spent waiting—

food a woman lives on

In the ballpark,

midday made before our eyes,

we shine

My team in a tight spot—

I look on somehow happy,

leaning against you

Your hand

signaling for a draft beer

catches my eye and absorbs me

On my birthday

a year seems short,

a day long

The rose blooms,

pretending not to know

that 400 yen made it mine

“Call me again” “Wait for me”

Your love is always spoken

in commands

Glancing up at the falling rain

suddenly I want

your lips

Escape from a shower into a street stall

and drink a glass of cheap saké—

fun to be alive

The woman in the street stall

calls me your wife—

and so, for a while, I am

At a tiny shop

like a child’s play store

I buy you a toothbrush

Warm—knowing

when I say “I’m cold,”

you’re there to say “Me too”

With the man I want to spend my life loving

my heart aches—

thinking of the slender margin

    between unreal and real

“Today only!”

Red blouse in the window,

on sale each time I go by

You love boiled tofu for dinner.

Remembering,

I buy a little earthen pot

Cosmos flowers sway

in front of model homes

no one will ever live in

Pick up the receiver,

happy someone thought of me

in the middle of the night

Wednesday your words “See you”—

the same as ever

yet somehow not

On Thursday, wanting despite myself

to trust you,

I wear a psychedelic T-shirt

Unanswered ring tells me you’re still out

Where have you gone drinking?

Who’s getting drunk with you?

Thinking you too must be

listening to this radio show

I switch it off in mid-laugh

“It’s okay with me,” you say—

not understanding what’s okay,

I nod

I can’t believe you mean

all that counts is a good time—

do I know you?

Late afternoon—

you and I gaze at the same thing

as between us something ends

Sitting in a coffee shop

with a man who isn’t you,

making him say, “Then I’ll wait five years”

Lights at dusk

in Heartbreak Hotel—

a place you sang of once

Remember the August morning

you started up the engine

and carried me away?

Like getting up to leave

      a hamburger place—

that’s how I’ll leave

that man

Like a whiskey bottle on reserve too long

that man’s no longer mine—

skies are clear today

It’s enough to be your lover

sings someone in a song,

making it sound so easy

Now that I wait for you no more,

sunny Saturdays and rainy Tuesdays

are all the same to me

Baseball Game

Wrapped in a green sweater

as though folded deep in your arms—

winter comes on

On a Sunday morning

fragrant with navel oranges,

I boil two eggs to perfection

I check my tear-stained reflection,

remembering that you said

“Stay beautiful”

More than dozens of words of love,

one chill word

preoccupies me

Knight in leather jacket

astride your motorcycle,