Beneath the Restless Turning of the Planets: Selected Poems, 1972-1989
Poetry. Asian Studies. Translated from the Japanese by Janine Beichman. "One of Ooka's virtues was that he was not an intellectual, someone who has forgotten that human beings are more important than ideas, that human beings take priorityover everything. This poet knows, in the deepest sense, that human relationships rest on the relation of human beings to nature and to the universe. It is not difficult to see traces of the surrealist influence that colores Ooka's youth. But in contrast to...
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Translated from the Japanese by Janine Beichman. "One of Ooka's virtues was that he was not an intellectual, someone who has forgotten that human beings are more important than ideas, that human beings take priorityover everything. This poet knows, in the deepest sense, that human relationships rest on the relation of human beings to nature and to the universe. It is not difficult to see traces of the surrealist influence that colores Ooka's youth. But in contrast to many other Japanese poets, Ooka was never a blind worshipper of anything imported. Ooka is convinced that only when you approach actuality from two mutually opposing sides can you get a glimpse of its entirety. Rather than pantheism, the undercurrent of Ooka's poetry is paneroticism and it is that which saves him from indulging in conceptualization." From the preface by Tanikawa Shuntaro.
Preface15Daybreak Leaf Alive21A Perspective Diagram of Summer23All About the Wind29Dreaming Sam Francis31Incantation37Her Fragrant Flesh, Or How I Met a Madwoman39Speak Please I Beg You47Fruits of Light53Insects' Dreams54Chof I59Chofu IV60London Precipice62Saki's Numazu65Cerebropolis67Rhymopolis68Chofu VIII69California: Unvoiced Harmonies71The Principles of Poetry77Two Eyes79The Him Called Me80To Art Museums81Life Story83Snow Outside84Valley Stream Reflects the Mountain Light85Children's Song86On Human Life87What is Poetry? #191What is Poetry? #292What is Poetry? #393What is Poetry? #494What is Poetry? #695What is Poetry? #896What is Poetry? #1097What is Poetry? #1298What is Poetry? #15: The Case of a Star99What is Poetry? #17: The Case of Rain100What is Poetry? #21101What is Poetry? #24: Rules for Its Creation and Interpretation102Comrades, the Earth is Cold104History10518 Lines Written in Anger106Red Plum107Song of the Nuclear Submarine 'Thresher', Its Sexual Seapassage and Suicide111Poem for My Children116Crab Talk117Back in Tokyo118Strange Fragment119Morning Prayer120In the Style of Goethe121Autumn Melancholy122Tokyo Dirge124Songs for the Four Seasons: Summer Song125Songs for the Four Seasons: Autumn Song126Songs for the Four Seasons: Winter Song128Songs for the Four Seasons: Spring Song130The Tale of a Star #1133The Tale of a Star #2134Thus Spoke The Bird of Passage135Such Women, Where Are You?: Green Women136Such Women, Where Are You?: Blue Women138Translator's Note139
