Poetry International Poetry International
Poem

Yumi Fuzuki

When the World Lay Nameless

The mic starts picking up the sound,
you speak faithfully.
This is not a test.
Darkness falls,
a light pours in.
Our bodies are drenched it in,
becoming distorted screens.
“There was no pain.
The sleeves felt nice on the skin.”

Each time I sit in that seat,
that same spectacle repeats.
The men and women windblown together
Contrive breakup plans while sipping coffee.
Beside them the whispering of wait-staff.
(They can’t stifle it)
With this in the background, I tapdance.
Around the sadness I couldn’t choose, skippingly
skippingly trippingly I sing.

When you give your all to guard a wisdom that never falls ill, how long can you stay healthy?
Ground down at the morning ticket gates, limbs thin as bonito flakes everywhere.
Floating lightly on a wind that swallows them, they vanish.
Yearning to restrain it, to confront it face to face, though I find it irritating, I cannot plant my feet firmly in anyone’s path.
Air, inhaled and inhaling, starts to warp.
Though it was born here, it’s been swept away.
Single-mindedly pursuing, never will I overtake, so nobody needs to flee.
‘Til I drop, I’ll keep walking.
Encountered so many turned backs today, perhaps now I’ll feel fulfilled.

The force that pushes my eyelids open
is the one that formed this planet.
As the sky, moon, and oceans took shape,
with tails wagging we witnessed.
The contract signed with the earth,
The contract signed with the rain,
The contract signed with the wind,
Exchanging our indescribable gazes.
When the world lay nameless,
our blood
flowed in an invisible universe.
The proof is in the starlight,
somehow, the one saying this,
with finger pointed, is my mother, long ago.

The words once lost
are now recalled and
descend as hot objects deep in my throat.
Before I know it, they’re stuck.
“Being by oneself” and
“Disappearing by oneself”––
The distinction and distance between the two is crucial.

I snatch the support rod
And steal off with it.
Casting backward glances at buildings toppling,
my tail wags away, and I howl.
I order you to build!
I order you to call this place home!
If you look it in the eyes,
no name will be needed.
Speak to yourself with fidelity!
I will not make that into music. 

無名であったころ

無名であったころ

音を拾いはじめたマイク、
きみは忠実に話す。
これはテストではない。
落とされた影、
光はもう降りそそいでしまった。
一身に浴びてわたしたち
いびつなスクリーンとなる。
「痛みもありませんでした。
はおればやさしい袖口でした」

その席に腰かけるたび、
同じ光景が繰り返された。
吹き寄せられた男女が
珈琲を飲みながら別れの算段を立てる。
その横で給仕たちのささやき。
(押し殺せない)
これらをバックに、わたしタップを踊ろう。
選べなかったかなしみについて
とぎれとぎれにうたう。

病めない賢明さを守り抜くとき、どれほどすこやかでいられるだろう。
朝の改札口に研がれて、削り節のように人の手足が増える。
ふわんと風に飲まれて消える。
引き留めたくて向き合いたくて、もどかしく思うけれど、誰の前にも立ちはだかれない。
吸って吸われて空気、歪みはじめている。
ここへ生まれてきたのに流れてしまった。
ひたすらに追うだけだから、追い抜くことはしないから、誰も逃げなくていい。
果てるまで、歩き続けよ。
きょうもたくさんの背中に出会えて、わたしはたぶん、満たされた。

まぶたをおしあげる力が
この星をかたちづくった。
空が、月が、海が、できていくのを
わたしたちは尾を振りながら見ていました。
土と契約し、
雨と契約し、
風と契約し、
記述できないまなざしを交わし合った。
世界が無名であったころ、
わたしたちの血は
見えない宇宙にも流れていた。
星明かりがその証、と
指さし教えてくれたのは
どうやら、かつての母でした。

なくしていたことばが
今にして思い出されて
のど奥へ熱いものがおりてくる。
知らぬ間につっかえていた。
「ひとりになること」と、
「ひとりでに消えてしまうこと」を
分けて遠ざけなくてはならない。

支えつづけていたつっかい棒を
取り下げて走る。
倒れはじめるビルたちを尻目に
尾を振り立たせ、わたしは吠えた。
つくりなさい、
ここを家だと言いなさい。
目を見ていれば
名前はいらない。
きみはきみに忠実に話せ。
わたしはそれを音楽にしない。
Close

When the World Lay Nameless

The mic starts picking up the sound,
you speak faithfully.
This is not a test.
Darkness falls,
a light pours in.
Our bodies are drenched it in,
becoming distorted screens.
“There was no pain.
The sleeves felt nice on the skin.”

Each time I sit in that seat,
that same spectacle repeats.
The men and women windblown together
Contrive breakup plans while sipping coffee.
Beside them the whispering of wait-staff.
(They can’t stifle it)
With this in the background, I tapdance.
Around the sadness I couldn’t choose, skippingly
skippingly trippingly I sing.

When you give your all to guard a wisdom that never falls ill, how long can you stay healthy?
Ground down at the morning ticket gates, limbs thin as bonito flakes everywhere.
Floating lightly on a wind that swallows them, they vanish.
Yearning to restrain it, to confront it face to face, though I find it irritating, I cannot plant my feet firmly in anyone’s path.
Air, inhaled and inhaling, starts to warp.
Though it was born here, it’s been swept away.
Single-mindedly pursuing, never will I overtake, so nobody needs to flee.
‘Til I drop, I’ll keep walking.
Encountered so many turned backs today, perhaps now I’ll feel fulfilled.

The force that pushes my eyelids open
is the one that formed this planet.
As the sky, moon, and oceans took shape,
with tails wagging we witnessed.
The contract signed with the earth,
The contract signed with the rain,
The contract signed with the wind,
Exchanging our indescribable gazes.
When the world lay nameless,
our blood
flowed in an invisible universe.
The proof is in the starlight,
somehow, the one saying this,
with finger pointed, is my mother, long ago.

The words once lost
are now recalled and
descend as hot objects deep in my throat.
Before I know it, they’re stuck.
“Being by oneself” and
“Disappearing by oneself”––
The distinction and distance between the two is crucial.

I snatch the support rod
And steal off with it.
Casting backward glances at buildings toppling,
my tail wags away, and I howl.
I order you to build!
I order you to call this place home!
If you look it in the eyes,
no name will be needed.
Speak to yourself with fidelity!
I will not make that into music. 

When the World Lay Nameless

The mic starts picking up the sound,
you speak faithfully.
This is not a test.
Darkness falls,
a light pours in.
Our bodies are drenched it in,
becoming distorted screens.
“There was no pain.
The sleeves felt nice on the skin.”

Each time I sit in that seat,
that same spectacle repeats.
The men and women windblown together
Contrive breakup plans while sipping coffee.
Beside them the whispering of wait-staff.
(They can’t stifle it)
With this in the background, I tapdance.
Around the sadness I couldn’t choose, skippingly
skippingly trippingly I sing.

When you give your all to guard a wisdom that never falls ill, how long can you stay healthy?
Ground down at the morning ticket gates, limbs thin as bonito flakes everywhere.
Floating lightly on a wind that swallows them, they vanish.
Yearning to restrain it, to confront it face to face, though I find it irritating, I cannot plant my feet firmly in anyone’s path.
Air, inhaled and inhaling, starts to warp.
Though it was born here, it’s been swept away.
Single-mindedly pursuing, never will I overtake, so nobody needs to flee.
‘Til I drop, I’ll keep walking.
Encountered so many turned backs today, perhaps now I’ll feel fulfilled.

The force that pushes my eyelids open
is the one that formed this planet.
As the sky, moon, and oceans took shape,
with tails wagging we witnessed.
The contract signed with the earth,
The contract signed with the rain,
The contract signed with the wind,
Exchanging our indescribable gazes.
When the world lay nameless,
our blood
flowed in an invisible universe.
The proof is in the starlight,
somehow, the one saying this,
with finger pointed, is my mother, long ago.

The words once lost
are now recalled and
descend as hot objects deep in my throat.
Before I know it, they’re stuck.
“Being by oneself” and
“Disappearing by oneself”––
The distinction and distance between the two is crucial.

I snatch the support rod
And steal off with it.
Casting backward glances at buildings toppling,
my tail wags away, and I howl.
I order you to build!
I order you to call this place home!
If you look it in the eyes,
no name will be needed.
Speak to yourself with fidelity!
I will not make that into music. 
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Nederlands Letterenfonds
Stichting Van Beuningen Peterich-fonds
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