adagio ma non troppo by Ryoko Sekiguchi and translated by Lindsay Turner

This is poetry from Japan.

adagio ma non troppo by Ryoko Sekiguchi translated by Lindsay Turner is published by Les Figues Press. This is a Book originally written in Japanese. This was published in 2018.0 and has the ISBN of 9.781934254707E12.

adagio ma non troppo, by Ryoko Sekiguchi and translated by Lindsay Turner, borrows a musical instruction and turns it into a reading tempo. “Slow, but not too much” is wonderful advice for poetry generally, and especially for Sekiguchi’s cross-lingual, formally alert work. Her writing often moves through food, sensation, translation, disaster, and the body’s delicate relations to language. Turner’s translation gives English readers access to that finely tuned pace. I would read adagio ma non troppo as a book of measured movement, neither rushed nor static. The title asks for attention with pulse. A poem can slow the reader down without freezing them. It can ask us to feel thought as rhythm, breath, and adjustment.

If you’d like to see international poetry continue and gain traction, consider requesting this work from your local library, or purchasing it from places like Open Books (a poetry only bookstore), Asterism Books (an independent press distributor), or bookshop.org to connect you with your local bookstores.

Check out more of the always in-progress translated poetry index here.