Poem
Yosuke Tanaka
Summer of Konbu Candy
These days, I’ve been eating something called “Plum Konbu Candy”.Plums and konbu are both things you might put inside a rice ball for flavor
So the combination might seem natural at first but
The candy consists of green plum paste inside a sticky sweet konbu candy
I imagine whoever thought this up must have had some guts.
It tastes, well, quite sour.
The first bite is enough to wake you straight up.
It doesn’t have any of the leaky seepage of brown sugar, it packs more of a punch than that.
Next, you get wrapped up in the konbu candy
As graceful as a spring sea . . .
As we passed through the tunnel between the boulders
The south sea lay before us. The sea was beautifully clear in May
And little islands lay upon its surface. A warm breeze rose from the grassy rock ledges
And our only thoughts were of how pleasant it was.
I wanted to stay that bright, calm afternoon
And continue gazing at the sea. We will probably remember that place
So distant, when our plum konbu candy grows all twisted
At the beginning of summer
© Translation: 2009, Jeffrey Angles
Konbu is a kind of edible kelp often used either as a vegetable or as flavoring for soup broth and other foods.
SUMMER OF KONBU CANDY
© 2009, Yosuke Tanaka
From: Sweet na gunjyo no yume (Sweet Ultramarine Dreams)
Publisher: Michitani, Tokyo
From: Sweet na gunjyo no yume (Sweet Ultramarine Dreams)
Publisher: Michitani, Tokyo
Poems
Poems of Yosuke Tanaka
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Summer of Konbu Candy
These days, I’ve been eating something called “Plum Konbu Candy”.Plums and konbu are both things you might put inside a rice ball for flavor
So the combination might seem natural at first but
The candy consists of green plum paste inside a sticky sweet konbu candy
I imagine whoever thought this up must have had some guts.
It tastes, well, quite sour.
The first bite is enough to wake you straight up.
It doesn’t have any of the leaky seepage of brown sugar, it packs more of a punch than that.
Next, you get wrapped up in the konbu candy
As graceful as a spring sea . . .
As we passed through the tunnel between the boulders
The south sea lay before us. The sea was beautifully clear in May
And little islands lay upon its surface. A warm breeze rose from the grassy rock ledges
And our only thoughts were of how pleasant it was.
I wanted to stay that bright, calm afternoon
And continue gazing at the sea. We will probably remember that place
So distant, when our plum konbu candy grows all twisted
At the beginning of summer
© 2009, Jeffrey Angles
From: Sweet na gunjyo no yume (Sweet Ultramarine Dreams)
From: Sweet na gunjyo no yume (Sweet Ultramarine Dreams)
Summer of Konbu Candy
These days, I’ve been eating something called “Plum Konbu Candy”.Plums and konbu are both things you might put inside a rice ball for flavor
So the combination might seem natural at first but
The candy consists of green plum paste inside a sticky sweet konbu candy
I imagine whoever thought this up must have had some guts.
It tastes, well, quite sour.
The first bite is enough to wake you straight up.
It doesn’t have any of the leaky seepage of brown sugar, it packs more of a punch than that.
Next, you get wrapped up in the konbu candy
As graceful as a spring sea . . .
As we passed through the tunnel between the boulders
The south sea lay before us. The sea was beautifully clear in May
And little islands lay upon its surface. A warm breeze rose from the grassy rock ledges
And our only thoughts were of how pleasant it was.
I wanted to stay that bright, calm afternoon
And continue gazing at the sea. We will probably remember that place
So distant, when our plum konbu candy grows all twisted
At the beginning of summer
© 2009, Jeffrey Angles
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