Poet
Yumi Fuzuki
Yumi Fuzuki
(Japan, 1991)
© Chihiro Morino
Biography
Yumi Fuzuki 文月悠光 (b. 1991) is one of the youngest recipients of the Gendai Shi Techō Prize, which she was awarded while still a high school student in 2008, and also of the Maruyama Yutaka Memorial Modern Poetry Prize (2010). Fuzuki epitomizes the generation of millennial poets who work across media, seeing poetry as embedded as much in daily life as in other arts.Her first book, In this Suitable World, This Unsuitable Me (Tekisetsu-na sekai no tekisetsu-narazaru watashi, 2009), was published while she was still a high school student and was awarded the Nakahara Chūya Prize; the book has also been published in Finnish translation. Her second, Deeper than the Roof (Yane yorimo fukabuka-to, 2013), was published just prior to her graduation from Waseda University School of Education.
What should I do
In order to be born again,
To come back to live
Like budding leaves?
There’s no method for humans.
The wind carries us the smell of earth,
And though the sky is filled with omens,
Always we lag in responding.
Despite this general ‘lag’, the poet stays active with readings, videos, national radio and television appearances, a steady output of poetry and essays in addition to collaborations with dancers, fashion designers, artists, and other poets.
© Jordan A. Y. Smith
Poetry:適切な世界の適切ならざる私 (In this Suitable World, This Unsuitable Me), Tokyo, Shichōsha, 2009
屋根よりも深々と (Deeper than the Roof), Tokyo, Shichōsha, 2013
わたしたちの猫 (Our Cat), Tokyo, Nanaroku-sha, 2016
Essays:
洗礼ダイアリー (Initiation Diary), Tokyo, Poplar Publishing, 2016
臆病な詩人、街へ出る。(A Timid Poet, Out on the Town), Tokyo, Rittosha, 2018
Links to Performances:
Roses
In this suitable world, unsuitable me
And a recording from Annikin Runofestivaali festival in Finland:
Eyelash Marsh
Poems
Poems of Yumi Fuzuki
Sponsors
Partners
LantarenVenster – Verhalenhuis Belvédère