PostPoems Be Artistic. Be Creative. Be Inspired!

I have been digging through my bookshelves of late rediscovering a lot of poetry.  I am reliving a lot of my past through this endeavor. Some of these books have been collecting dust or even been imprisoned in boxes. It is great to see which works still hold up. 

One such title that I have not even thought of for years is Seasons of Sacred Lust by Kazuko Shiraishi. This is a hardback copy of poetry published by New Directions. I think only the paperback edition is still available. This is a publishing company literary people need to acquaint themselves with. They have made a lot of great literature available to the American public in affordable and high quality editions. 

This volume was originally published in 1978. I do not know much about Shiraishi beyond this volume. I purchased it at some point in the mid 80s. Her poetry is very modern and urban. There is also a nice erotic overture to much of the poetry in the book. In the introduction, Kenneth Rexroth discusses her position as a liberated woman from that era. The poems here were written from the late 60s through the late 70s. He defines her as a woman of her time. He also likens her to Henry Miller in maintaining a “remarkably clean liver”.  This is referring to her avoidance of drugs, alcohol and tobacco. 

Her poetry does have a very cosmopolitan feel. She writes of modern Tokyo but also of New York City and Vancouver (city of her birth). The poems reveal a deep grasp of life in the big city. She touches on the erotic lifestyle although she also has a deep understanding of the alienation of modern life. She can refer back to classical images and motifs even with her modern tone. There is a long poem called A Chinese Ulysses. Here she takes a Chinese man who must wander through urban life and find his way. He “left his home and knows no return”.  It is a well conceived poem. 

There is an epic poem called Seasons of the Sacred Sex Maniac. That ought to be all the plugging I need to do for this book. The title alone is worth the price of admission. This lengthy poem rolls through the four seasons as she chronicles the poetic life of the sex maniac. Shiraishi does not shy away from dirty language. The translators are also willing to use curses to accurately transcribe her verse. 

There are some poems that seem a little simplistic or disjointed. I am unsure how much of that is related to the translation or the original verse. This is an issue that commonly arises with poetry in translation. Sometimes, certain feelings and ideas can get readily lost. For the most part, I think the various translators (including Rexroth) have done a fine job. This poetry has a sweet erotic tone but it is not pornographic at all. It is often beautiful. This is one that poetry lovers should make the effort to seek out.