Poetry International Poetry International
Poem

Takako Arai

Galapagos

Just gossip! The damn economy is
Just a fairy tale! Stock prices,
Come on and do it!
  Make fun of them all the more
I’m sick of it
All this goth clothing, all this Uniqlo-ing

It’s a mess! Eros
Left out all the time! Thanatos
Bring it back to life!
  Alienate them all the more
Incessant cellphones
Microsoft monsters

   ―――Isn’t that all you’d ever let us wear? 
      Wasn’t that our national uniform?
      Before the quake
      The tsunami of the recession
      All we ever worried about?

That
Is our protective wear
It thrives on adversity
It can withstand high waves
Up to six meters tall
No,
It’s more like swimming gear
It looks like it might drown
In the cold global
Womb of grotesque globalism
In Lehman Brothers
Salaried men
Don’t want anything
Don’t say anything
Won’t do anything, won’t do it anymore
Girls, boys, the intermediate sex
Not more procreating, unisex
   Just look
  At that fission
 They say they can’t get any fusion
Between those sperm-like neutrons

It’s just been let go! Nuclear fission
Just exposed! The womb of the reactor dome too
Fuel rods (nenryōbō), safety hats (anzenbō), egg cells (ransaibō), stinginess (kechinbō), thieves (dorobō),
Refrigerators (reibō), heaters (danbō),
Babies (akanbō), deceased (hotokenbō), floating (ukabō) on the great plain of the sea, on the verge of screaming (orabō),
The reactor building about to fly off (buttobō),
Embankments (teibō), conspiracies (inbō), ministerial offices (kanbō),
  Unbelievabō
  Incredibō
TEPCO
  Puts on their Uniqlo
 To bulwark
The tsunami

   No nuclear dome
  We’ll make electricity
 In our con-domes
Is a half-life
Good enough?

Us

ガラパゴス

ガラパゴス

茶飲みばなしだろ!、景気って
お伽ばなしだよ!、株相場は
やらかしてよ、
  もっと、揶揄化してよ
うんざりだね
黒づくし、ユニクロづくしは

台なしだよ!、エロスが
出しっぱなしだろ!、タナトスを
いかしてよ、
  もっと、異化してよ
ケータイの 引っきりなし、
マイクロソフトの 人でなしに

   ―――着さしてもらえて なかったんじゃアありませんか?
      国民服しか、
      震災のずっと前から
      わたしたち、
      不況という 津波 ばっかし恐怖して、

防護服です、
ソレは
打たれ強いのです、
高波に
6メートルまで 耐えられます
いいえ、
水着 と言っちまおうか
冷たいグローバル
グロテスクなグローバリズムの 胎内で
溺れそう
リーマンに、
サラリーマン
欲しがりません
申しません
もう しません、やりません
女子も、男子も、中性子
生殖しない ユニセックス
   ほら、
  分裂する、
 中精子は、
なかなか融合しないんです、って

放りっぱなしだろ!、核分裂も
野ざらしだぞ!、原発ドームの 胎内も
燃料棒が、安全帽が、卵細胞が、けちん坊が、どろぼうが、
冷房が、暖房が、
赤ンぼうが、仏(ほとけ)ンぼうが、大海原に浮かぼうが、叫らぼうが、
原子炉建屋がぶっ飛ぼうが、
堤防が、陰謀が、官房が、
 アンビリーバボーが、
 インクレディボーが、
東電が、
  ユニクロ着込んで
 防御する、
津波

  コンドームで
 発電する、
半減期
で いいのか?

わたしたち
Close

Galapagos

Just gossip! The damn economy is
Just a fairy tale! Stock prices,
Come on and do it!
  Make fun of them all the more
I’m sick of it
All this goth clothing, all this Uniqlo-ing

It’s a mess! Eros
Left out all the time! Thanatos
Bring it back to life!
  Alienate them all the more
Incessant cellphones
Microsoft monsters

   ―――Isn’t that all you’d ever let us wear? 
      Wasn’t that our national uniform?
      Before the quake
      The tsunami of the recession
      All we ever worried about?

That
Is our protective wear
It thrives on adversity
It can withstand high waves
Up to six meters tall
No,
It’s more like swimming gear
It looks like it might drown
In the cold global
Womb of grotesque globalism
In Lehman Brothers
Salaried men
Don’t want anything
Don’t say anything
Won’t do anything, won’t do it anymore
Girls, boys, the intermediate sex
Not more procreating, unisex
   Just look
  At that fission
 They say they can’t get any fusion
Between those sperm-like neutrons

It’s just been let go! Nuclear fission
Just exposed! The womb of the reactor dome too
Fuel rods (nenryōbō), safety hats (anzenbō), egg cells (ransaibō), stinginess (kechinbō), thieves (dorobō),
Refrigerators (reibō), heaters (danbō),
Babies (akanbō), deceased (hotokenbō), floating (ukabō) on the great plain of the sea, on the verge of screaming (orabō),
The reactor building about to fly off (buttobō),
Embankments (teibō), conspiracies (inbō), ministerial offices (kanbō),
  Unbelievabō
  Incredibō
TEPCO
  Puts on their Uniqlo
 To bulwark
The tsunami

   No nuclear dome
  We’ll make electricity
 In our con-domes
Is a half-life
Good enough?

Us

Galapagos

Just gossip! The damn economy is
Just a fairy tale! Stock prices,
Come on and do it!
  Make fun of them all the more
I’m sick of it
All this goth clothing, all this Uniqlo-ing

It’s a mess! Eros
Left out all the time! Thanatos
Bring it back to life!
  Alienate them all the more
Incessant cellphones
Microsoft monsters

   ―――Isn’t that all you’d ever let us wear? 
      Wasn’t that our national uniform?
      Before the quake
      The tsunami of the recession
      All we ever worried about?

That
Is our protective wear
It thrives on adversity
It can withstand high waves
Up to six meters tall
No,
It’s more like swimming gear
It looks like it might drown
In the cold global
Womb of grotesque globalism
In Lehman Brothers
Salaried men
Don’t want anything
Don’t say anything
Won’t do anything, won’t do it anymore
Girls, boys, the intermediate sex
Not more procreating, unisex
   Just look
  At that fission
 They say they can’t get any fusion
Between those sperm-like neutrons

It’s just been let go! Nuclear fission
Just exposed! The womb of the reactor dome too
Fuel rods (nenryōbō), safety hats (anzenbō), egg cells (ransaibō), stinginess (kechinbō), thieves (dorobō),
Refrigerators (reibō), heaters (danbō),
Babies (akanbō), deceased (hotokenbō), floating (ukabō) on the great plain of the sea, on the verge of screaming (orabō),
The reactor building about to fly off (buttobō),
Embankments (teibō), conspiracies (inbō), ministerial offices (kanbō),
  Unbelievabō
  Incredibō
TEPCO
  Puts on their Uniqlo
 To bulwark
The tsunami

   No nuclear dome
  We’ll make electricity
 In our con-domes
Is a half-life
Good enough?

Us
Sponsors
Gemeente Rotterdam
Nederlands Letterenfonds
Stichting Van Beuningen Peterich-fonds
Prins Bernhard cultuurfonds
Lira fonds
Versopolis
J.E. Jurriaanse
Gefinancierd door de Europese Unie
Elise Mathilde Fonds
Stichting Verzameling van Wijngaarden-Boot
Veerhuis
VDM
Partners
LantarenVenster – Verhalenhuis Belvédère