Poem
Kazuko Shiraishi
The Tulip\'s Ear
isn’t it out of season someone might say butjust as I read
for a tulip to drop one petal Van Gogh’s ear Akito Arima
I ended up flying to Amsterdam in November
there is a man like Van Gogh’s ear there
the frozen winter is sad
“eh! you are a little boy who came from Rotterdam so
you must be able to walk on a piece of broken ice
this is an order walk!” he was forced to
walk on the thin ice that covered the river like stepping-stones
by the boss of the kids of the remote country where he had been evacuated
this chubby little boy with not-so-good kinetic nerves
totters and hops
to the thin ice in front of him like a flattened-out Van Gogh ear
just before he falls
he cannot go back anymore scared if he falls
he will die there is no other way but to hop forward
now the man who will be 70 says “it’s still the same
I jump forward I am doing the same thing as at that time”
that one tulip petal was
a piece of thin giant ice
to the man with the ear of a poet
© Translation: 2009, Yumiko Tsumura and Samuel Grolmes
From: My Floating Mother, City
Publisher: New Directions, New York, 2009
From: My Floating Mother, City
Publisher: New Directions, New York, 2009
HET OOR VAN DE TULP
daar is het toch het seizoen niet voor? zou je zeggen maar ik las
Van een tulp valt één enkel bloemblad: het oor van Van Gogh ARIMA Akito
en juist op dat moment vloog ik
in november naar Amsterdam
daar is iemand als het oor van Van Gogh
droevig zijn bevroren winters
“hé, jochie, jij komt toch uit Rotterdam
dan kan je wel over die brokken ijs lopen
het is een bevel loop!”
door de aanvoerder van de jongensbende op het platteland waarheen hij was geëvacueerd
werd hij gedwongen om over het dunne ijs te lopen dat als stapstenen over de rivier lag
het dikke jochie met zijn slechte coördinatie
wankelde en vlak voor hij viel
sprong hij naar
een dun stuk ijs dat eruit zag als het oor van Van Gogh
hij kon niet meer terug bang als hij
viel was hij dood hij kon alleen nog maar naar voren springen
nu met zijn 70ste verjaardag in het vooruitzicht zegt de man “nu is het net zo naar voren
moet ik springen ik doe hetzelfde als toen”
dat ene bloemblad van die tulp
was één dunne, gigantische ijsschots
voor de man met het oor van een dichter
© Vertaling: 2009, Ivo Smits
Akito ARIMA (1930) is een bekende haiku-dichter.
© 2004, Kazuko Shiraishi
From: The Running of the Full Moon
Publisher: Hon-ami Shoten, Tokyo
From: The Running of the Full Moon
Publisher: Hon-ami Shoten, Tokyo
Poems
Poems of Kazuko Shiraishi
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The Tulip\'s Ear
isn’t it out of season someone might say butjust as I read
for a tulip to drop one petal Van Gogh’s ear Akito Arima
I ended up flying to Amsterdam in November
there is a man like Van Gogh’s ear there
the frozen winter is sad
“eh! you are a little boy who came from Rotterdam so
you must be able to walk on a piece of broken ice
this is an order walk!” he was forced to
walk on the thin ice that covered the river like stepping-stones
by the boss of the kids of the remote country where he had been evacuated
this chubby little boy with not-so-good kinetic nerves
totters and hops
to the thin ice in front of him like a flattened-out Van Gogh ear
just before he falls
he cannot go back anymore scared if he falls
he will die there is no other way but to hop forward
now the man who will be 70 says “it’s still the same
I jump forward I am doing the same thing as at that time”
that one tulip petal was
a piece of thin giant ice
to the man with the ear of a poet
© 2009, Yumiko Tsumura and Samuel Grolmes
From: My Floating Mother, City
Publisher: 2009, New Directions, New York
From: My Floating Mother, City
Publisher: 2009, New Directions, New York
The Tulip\'s Ear
isn’t it out of season someone might say butjust as I read
for a tulip to drop one petal Van Gogh’s ear Akito Arima
I ended up flying to Amsterdam in November
there is a man like Van Gogh’s ear there
the frozen winter is sad
“eh! you are a little boy who came from Rotterdam so
you must be able to walk on a piece of broken ice
this is an order walk!” he was forced to
walk on the thin ice that covered the river like stepping-stones
by the boss of the kids of the remote country where he had been evacuated
this chubby little boy with not-so-good kinetic nerves
totters and hops
to the thin ice in front of him like a flattened-out Van Gogh ear
just before he falls
he cannot go back anymore scared if he falls
he will die there is no other way but to hop forward
now the man who will be 70 says “it’s still the same
I jump forward I am doing the same thing as at that time”
that one tulip petal was
a piece of thin giant ice
to the man with the ear of a poet
© 2009, Yumiko Tsumura and Samuel Grolmes
From: My Floating Mother, City
Publisher: 2009, New Directions, New York
From: My Floating Mother, City
Publisher: 2009, New Directions, New York
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