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The Chieko Poems by Kotaro Takamura
The poems that form the Chieko Poems collection draw on the poet's own life experiences and, read as a sequence, tell the story of his relationship with Chieko through their courtship, marriage, her mental breakdown and death.
They are an early example in Japan of the confessional style of poetry and show the poet's gathering skill with the form from the self-absorption of the early poems to the objectivity of the later, and more famous, poems. They are a deeply-engaging testament to the enduring power of love.
To read more about the background to the poems, please go to:
> Kotaro Takamura and the Chieko Poems
To A Woman
I can't bear your leaving...
Late At Night
The moon on this July night...
Fear
No, no! Don't touch this silent water...
Early Evening
The fire burns in the gas stove...
To A Woman In The Suburbs
Now like a great wind my heart rushes towards you...
Waking Up On Winter Mornings
On winter mornings...
Midnight Snow
The flame in the warm gas stove...
The Fountains Of Humanity
The world has turned a fresh green...
The Two Of Us
Whenever I think of you...
In Praise Of Love
Carnal desire that knows no bounds...
Supper
In the storm lashed rain...
Two People Under A Tree
That's Mount Atatara over there...
Cattle Running Wild
Ah, you were so scared...
Catfish
The noise of splashes from the wooden pail...
Two People At Night
The prophecy that we would starve to death...
You Get More And More Pretty
Why do women get more and more pretty...
Talking Like A Child
Chieko says there's no sky in Tokyo...
Cohabitants
I mould the clay with pursed lips...
Delivering Beauty Into Captivity
The burning touch of a tax demand in my pocket..
Farsighted Life
A bird starts up from my foot...
Chieko Rides The Wind
Chieko's now lost her mind...
Chieko Plays With Plovers
On the empty Ninety-Nine Mile Beach...
Extraordinary Chieko
Chieko sees what cannot be seen...
A Couple Below A Mountain
The foothills below the forked peak of Mt Bandai...
Description Of A Day
I finish the brush and ink sketch...
Lemon Elegy
You had been so waiting for a lemon...
Miserable Homecoming
To her own home...
To One Who Died
Sparrows wake up like you at dawn and tap on the window...
Plum Brandy
The plum brandy that Chieko made before she died...
Six Poems
When I single-mindedly attack my work, don't think I'm lonely, Chieko...
> Translator's acknowledgements |
