Poem
Toshio Nakae
WORDS
To murmur the word ‘silence’ without really knowing the word. To throw away thoughtlessly the word ‘bird’. To look at the words ‘sea’, ‘woman’ and ‘fish’ meaninglessly. To use such words as ‘friends’, ‘humans’ and ‘solitude’ unhesitatingly. Only a shameless person would do this kind of thing.We can no longer heal the words ‘love’ and ‘death.’ The words ‘run’, ‘jump’ and ‘walk’ are extremely exhausted, like wounded soldiers.
We should at once blank out every page of the dictionary. We should put away books in past ages. Moreover, it is essential for us to forget words; otherwise we would not be entitled to be called civilized people. We would be barbarians. And we should, each of us, co-exist with things and actions.
Only in the age of our great grandchildren would we allow people to utter words one by one, just as they would build houses.
A world where only mime, the simplest words and music govern our lives — imagining such a place I am already speaking deliriously like a feverish patient, and often refusing to testify in proper words.
© Translation: 2007, William I. Elliott and Kazuo Kawamura
WORDS
© 1959, Toshio Nakae
From: Kyohi (Refusal)
Publisher: Bundosha, Kyoto
From: Kyohi (Refusal)
Publisher: Bundosha, Kyoto
Poems
Poems of Toshio Nakae
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WORDS
To murmur the word ‘silence’ without really knowing the word. To throw away thoughtlessly the word ‘bird’. To look at the words ‘sea’, ‘woman’ and ‘fish’ meaninglessly. To use such words as ‘friends’, ‘humans’ and ‘solitude’ unhesitatingly. Only a shameless person would do this kind of thing.We can no longer heal the words ‘love’ and ‘death.’ The words ‘run’, ‘jump’ and ‘walk’ are extremely exhausted, like wounded soldiers.
We should at once blank out every page of the dictionary. We should put away books in past ages. Moreover, it is essential for us to forget words; otherwise we would not be entitled to be called civilized people. We would be barbarians. And we should, each of us, co-exist with things and actions.
Only in the age of our great grandchildren would we allow people to utter words one by one, just as they would build houses.
A world where only mime, the simplest words and music govern our lives — imagining such a place I am already speaking deliriously like a feverish patient, and often refusing to testify in proper words.
© 2007, William I. Elliott and Kazuo Kawamura
From: Kyohi (Refusal)
From: Kyohi (Refusal)
WORDS
To murmur the word ‘silence’ without really knowing the word. To throw away thoughtlessly the word ‘bird’. To look at the words ‘sea’, ‘woman’ and ‘fish’ meaninglessly. To use such words as ‘friends’, ‘humans’ and ‘solitude’ unhesitatingly. Only a shameless person would do this kind of thing.We can no longer heal the words ‘love’ and ‘death.’ The words ‘run’, ‘jump’ and ‘walk’ are extremely exhausted, like wounded soldiers.
We should at once blank out every page of the dictionary. We should put away books in past ages. Moreover, it is essential for us to forget words; otherwise we would not be entitled to be called civilized people. We would be barbarians. And we should, each of us, co-exist with things and actions.
Only in the age of our great grandchildren would we allow people to utter words one by one, just as they would build houses.
A world where only mime, the simplest words and music govern our lives — imagining such a place I am already speaking deliriously like a feverish patient, and often refusing to testify in proper words.
© 2007, William I. Elliott and Kazuo Kawamura
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