I’ve written about Japanese children’s poet, Misuzu Kaneko before in a post for Poetry Friday. Since then I’ve discovered another English translation of Misuzu’s work entitled Something Nice: Songs for Children translated by D.P. Dutcher (JULA, 1999) In this book, 60 of Misuzu’s poems are translated. There’s a delicacy in Misuzu’s perception that I find enchanting. In “That Sail” for example, while looking at a shell closely on the beach, the poet suddenly realizes that the sail she had previously seen on the ocean has disappeared entirely — people and things aboard — vanishing in the split second her attention has been focused on something else.
I mentioned in my previous post how Blakesian Misuzu’s poetry was; she is often, however, compared to Christina Rosetti. Having read only a smattering of either poet (more Blake than Rosetti,) I couldn’t really say which comparison is more apt, but that Misuzu is a poet with a distinctive voice is certain. She has certainly won me over! Currently, her work is experiencing widespread interest in Japan. Both newsletters of my daughter’s elementary school and son’s junior high school in Japan quoted from her poems. The trick in ‘getting’ the poems in English, however, lies in how well the work is translated. Lately, my aunt and I, out of mutual interest in Misuzu’s work have been casually translating her poems. It’s been awhile since I’ve translated poetry from the Japanese to English, but translating Misuzu’s work has been refreshing and challenging. It was nice to discover D.P. Dutcher’s translation of her poetry and I do hope it gets wider circulation.
This week’s Poetry Friday host is The Miss Rumphius Effect.