Machi Tawara
From Pooh's Nose (2005) 
Quentin S Crisp reading poems by Machi Tawara 
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My baby, sleeping like that,
hands raised as if cheering.
But of course! Banzai! Banzai to all who are born!
There is a music to crying.
Again today I carry a newborn baby
like a guitar.
Visiting Ginza at the year’s end,
the streets are full of people
who were once babies.
Living is reaching out with one’s hands.
The fingers of an infant
close upon the nose of Pooh Bear.
A single tangerine
overflows with so many words:
Peel. Seeds. Sweet. Juice. Good smell.
A rainy afternoon,
Repeating endlessly the call and response
“Mama.” “Yes?” “Mama.” “Yes.”
These are the same things my mother did for me,
changing my nappies, nursing me at her breast
and rocking me to sleep.
Today a voice has joined his smile,
like a black and white film
changing to colour.
Rocking, but not moving forward.
Childrearing is this rocking horse-time
that you have given me.
Quentin S Crisp studied Japanese at Durham University and has researched Japanese literature at Kyoto University. He has had two volumes of short stories published, The Nightmare Exhibition (BJM Press 2001) and Morbid Tales (Tartarus Press 2004).
With special thanks to Mami Fukaya
Translated by Quentin S. Crisp
Page(s) 26-27
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