A poet, a translator, a spirit of divine wealth. Shuntaro Tanikawa was born in Tokyo in 1931. He has published over 60 books of poetry and is considered one of the most prolific poets in Japanese history. He regards his poems as ‘an effort to communicate.' I was introduced to Shuntaro for the first time this year, and reading his work had me shook! I want to share one of his more well-liked poems. One that actually reminded me of one of my favorite poets, the American poet Jack Spicer, and of the American playwright Richard Foreman. It shares their ability to reach beyond the limitations of life on earth and summon what and who we would like to believe occupies outer space and communicates with it/with them. As Shuntaro says, “An effort to communicate.”
It is called "Two Billion Light-Years of Solitude."
Human beings on this small orb / sleep, waken and work, and sometimes / wish for friends on Mars. / I’ve no notion / what Martians do on their small orb / (neririing or kiruruing or hararaing). / But sometimes they like to have friends on Earth. / No doubt about that. / Universal gravitation is the power of solitudes / pulling each other. / Because the universe is distorted, / we all seek for one another. / Because the universe goes on expanding, / we are all uneasy. / With the chill of two billion light-years of solitude, / I suddenly sneezed. (1952)
Mr. Tanikawa, I and many of my comrades also suddenly sneeze. Thank you for understanding the world and its unknown forces and movements.
-Jen Fisher