Nanao Sakaki

As fate (coincidence, synchronicity) would have it, Nanao Sakaki was in town for an impromptu poetry reading at The Drawing Studio on Fourth Ave. Synchronistic because I have just been reading Inch By Inch: 45 Haiku By Issa, translated by Nanao Sakaki, which I checked out from the public library. In his reading he did not read from his haiku translations, but rather from his English language poems. At the end of the reading he sang an old folk song in Japanese.

 

The artwork of the artist Hiroshi M (Miyamoto??) hung above Nanao during the reading.

 

Here are some lines from Nanao's poem "Just Enough" which he read tonight:

 

Soil for legs

Axe for hands

Flower for eyes

Bird for ears

Mushroom for nose

Smile for mouth

Songs for lungs

Sweat for skin

Wind for mind

 

********************

 

Here's an interview with Nanao Sakaki.

 

 

 

 

Done