Emi Miyaoka
TANKA “SNOW FALLING” —短歌「降雪」
Poetry piled up within me
Is like snow falling
And ultimately talks about nothing.
吾のなかに降り積もる詩は雪に似てつひに何ごとをかを語らず ※Japanese
All people in my field of view
Are burning whitely
As they live their lives.
視野に入る人びとはみな各々のいのちをしろく燃やしていたり
The sound of rain—
When I imagine
My future in the sky,
Numerous worlds are shining.
雨音とわたしの未来を思うとき空には幾つも世界が光る
Wondering whether to buy
Books of Nietzsche and Kant—
Or not—
Eating in a ramen shop.
ニーチェとカント買うべきかどうか迷いながらのラーメン
Twilight shining softly
On your right hand.
This night will be gentle, certainly.
夕方がまあるく君の右手をさしてあたたかくある今夜はきっと
Emi Miyaoka is a Japanese poet and a Hirakata city official. In Japan, she has published the books The Bird’s Wish, It Flies Silently (Minatonohito, 2012), and Beyond The Border (Shichosha, 2015). The musical album Parallel Motion, Flying Cat’s Silence sets four poems from there books to music for a mixed chorus and piano. The two Japanese books and one CD can be found in the Harvard-Yenching Library.
Poetry “Parallel Motion, Flying Cat’s Silence” (Modern Poetry in Translation, UK). Poetry “Early in summer, Diophantine approximation” (Poetry, US). First Japanese translation of Schrödinger’s Poetry published in 2024 (Kankanbou, JP).