Poem
Takako Arai
Galapagos
Just gossip! The damn economy isJust 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
© Translation: 2016, Jeffrey Angles
From: Poems of Hiromi Ito, Toshiko Hirata & Takako Arai
Publisher: Vagabond Press, Newtown, Australia, 2016
This poems was written after the 2011 disasters in northeastern Japan. The title comes from the fact that commentators on the Japanese economy sometimes compare Japan to the Galapagos, the isolated group of Ecuadorian islands where developments frequently veer off in their own unique directions, different from those of the rest of the world. This poem also comments on serious issues—the ongoing anxiety about the Japanese economy during the ongoing nuclear crisis at Fukushima, concern about the extremely low national birthrate, and even the lack of individuality of Japanese youth. In referring to the low national birth rate, Arai jokes that Japan does not have much “fusion” of sperm and ova; instead what the Japanese population has is mostly “fission”—the breaking apart of radioactive isotopes in the Fukushima meltdown. In this work, Arai pokes fun at the discriminatory idea, circulated in the popular media and on blogs, that young people from the polluted areas ought to consider using condoms rather than having unprotected sex for fear that radiation might have had long-term, unpredictable effects on them and their progeny. In commenting on this poem, Arai has mentioned that she wanted to show that the tendency in Japan to put economics first led not only to the nuclear accident; it also has brought people to a point where they feel compelled to limit their own freedoms and joy. In the middle of the poem, Arai lines up a number of words that all end with the syllable bō. As she watched the press coverage of the Fukushima meltdown, she was surprised that so many of the items filling the news ended with the same sound.
From: Poems of Hiromi Ito, Toshiko Hirata & Takako Arai
Publisher: Vagabond Press, Newtown, Australia, 2016
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
© 2013, Takako Arai
From: ベットと織機 (Betto to Shokki )
Publisher: Michitani, Tokyo
From: ベットと織機 (Betto to Shokki )
Publisher: Michitani, Tokyo
Poems
Poems of Takako Arai
Close
Galapagos
Just gossip! The damn economy isJust 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
© 2016, Jeffrey Angles
From: Poems of Hiromi Ito, Toshiko Hirata & Takako Arai
Publisher: 2016, Vagabond Press, Newtown, Australia
From: Poems of Hiromi Ito, Toshiko Hirata & Takako Arai
Publisher: 2016, Vagabond Press, Newtown, Australia
Galapagos
Just gossip! The damn economy isJust 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
© 2016, Jeffrey Angles
From: Poems of Hiromi Ito, Toshiko Hirata & Takako Arai
Publisher: 2016, Vagabond Press, Newtown, Australia
From: Poems of Hiromi Ito, Toshiko Hirata & Takako Arai
Publisher: 2016, Vagabond Press, Newtown, Australia
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