Sea, Land, Shadow by Kazuko Shiraishi and translated by Yumiko Tsumura

This is poetry from Japan.

Sea, Land, Shadow by Kazuko Shiraishi translated by Yumiko Tsumura is published by New Directions. This is a Book originally written in Japanese. This was published in 2017.0 and has the ISBN of 9.78081122695E12.

Sea, Land, Shadow, by Kazuko Shiraishi and translated by Yumiko Tsumura, carries a title that already feels elemental: three zones of perception, three kinds of surface, three ways of losing the body into the world. Shiraishi is often associated with jazz-inflected modern Japanese poetry, and this book feels like an invitation to listen for movement rather than simply follow argument. I would read it as work that lets image and rhythm talk to each other across the page. The sea gives scale, the land gives ground, and the shadow gives that necessary uncertainty poetry is so good at preserving. Tsumura’s translation brings this Japanese lyric energy into English without needing to over-explain it. This seems ideal for readers who want modern poetry with atmosphere, music, and drift.

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.