Fractures in Translation

Originally published in 川柳塔 March 2020

These poems from my collection Fractures were translated into Japanese by scholar and poet Yoshimura Ikuyo. I was lucky enough to have lunch with her, Alan Spence, and his wife Janani in Gifu. I gave her a copy of Fractures and she picked these four poems to translate, sending me a copy of the magazine when it came out. This is the first and only time I’ve been translated into Japanese, so I will always be thankful to Yosihmura-sensei.

full moon 
on black water 
I think of her

闇の水面に
満月
ふと彼女が心に浮かぶ

clack
bamboo on rock
at Kyorai's hut

カタッ
岩にかかる竹
去来の庵

the whisper of neighbours
I get by, I get by

隣人のささやき
どうぞ　どうぞ

autumn
memories crisp
underfoot

秋
足元で
思い出が音をたてる