Comments on: Periplum #8

By: Mark Brooks

Mark Brooks — Sat, 06 Mar 2010 06:24:13 +0000

David,

I really enjoyed this, thank you. I’d also love to read more Ami Tanaka.

And thanks to Carmen for adding info on kodama.

By: Carmen Sterba

Carmen Sterba — Sat, 06 Mar 2010 06:10:10 +0000

地下鉄も木霊のひとつ鳥の秋
chikatetsu mo kodama no hitotsu tori no aki

the subway too
is one of echoes . . .
bird’s autumn

David, I know it’s a real challenge to translate “living poets” such as Ami Tanaka. Your scholarship is outstanding.

I thought of another use for the word “kodama” as one of the three types of bullet (Shinkasen) trains. At various main stations there are not only local trains, but also the Shinkansen and subways. Therefore, in the underground, it may be possible to hear echoes of both the subway and the Kodama Shinkansen. In this case too, Kodama also means echo. Combine that with your interpretation of the echoes as spirits and there’s a possibility of “kodama” having three levels, a spirit and an echo within an echo.

By: Merrill Ann Gonzales

Merrill Ann Gonzales — Wed, 03 Mar 2010 04:29:38 +0000

I was thinking of her work last night and it seems to portray a landscape of existential questioning, if not anxiety…until I come to the mountain cuckoo where I almost feel that she finds some sort of relief in haiku. It’s just my own response to what is presented here.

By: Eve Luckring

Eve Luckring — Tue, 02 Mar 2010 07:00:15 +0000

Thank You, David.
I would be so interested in more translations of Ami Tanaka’s work.

By: Merrill Ann Gonzales

Merrill Ann Gonzales — Mon, 01 Mar 2010 03:46:09 +0000

This is a marvelous presentation. It strikes me that sometimes the most heartfelt comes through language that sees things in an intellectual bent. Many thanks. This will give me hours of contemplation.