My Fukushima

1

Give it back

give it back,

our former Fukushima

children once played outside

with their parents.

2

Rice and vegetables,

pears and peaches,

cats and humans,

may all beings

revive in Fukushima.

3

We’ll sing a song

and dance again

around a cherry tree

in our hometown ―

Fukushima, Fukushima.

My Fukushima

1.

The dairy farmer

Left this message

“If Fukushima nuclear plant

hadn’t exploded,

I wouldn’t have killed myself.”

2.

Give it back

give it back,

our former Fukushima

children once played outside

with their parents

3.

Rice and vegetables,

pears and peaches,

cats and humans,

may all beings

revive in Fukushima.

4.

We’ll sing a song

dance again

around a big cherry tree

in our hometown ―

Fukushima, Fukushima.

About the Poet

Taro Aizu was born in the Aizu region of Fukushima prefecture, Japan and now lives in Kanagawa near Tokyo. He has been writing haiku for 20 years, gogyoshi for 12 years in Japanese, and both for 5 years in English and French. Fukushima nuclear plant exploded on March 12, 2011, after a huge earthquake and a large tsunami on March 11. That summer He went to my hometown, Fukushima, for the first time since the disaster. There he happened to see his nephews hanging dosimeters around their necks. The scene gave him a great shock and that experience inspired him to write “My hometown, Fukushima”. Moreover, he translated it into English and French the next year, in 2012, and then announced it across Facebook. ”My hometown, Fukushima” is translated into 20 languages by his Facebook friends all over the world and a gogyoshi of Takizakura is translated into 35 languages. In 2013 he published, ”Waga Fukushima”in Japanese, “My Fukushima” in English and “Mon Fukushima” in French with German, Italian, Spanish and Portuguese translations by Amazon Kindle. At last in 2014, he published the poetry book “Waga Fukushima My Fukushima Mon Fukushima” in three languages, Japanese, English and French.

European and Brazilian artists have been holding exhibitions inspired by his poems in Holland, Germany, Portugal, France and Brazil in 2012, 2013, 2014

and 2015. His published books :

1.”いとしい地球よ” in Japanese in September, 2005. ”The Lovely Earth” in English in January, 2011 and “La Terre Précieuse” in French in July, 2011.

2. Kindle collections of haiku and gogyoshi, “My Fukushima” in 7 languages, Japanese, English, French, Portuguese, Spanish, Italian, German in January, 2013.
3. “わが福島　My Fukushima Mon Fukushima”in May, 2014.

Awards:

1. “First Prize”, The 28th All Japan Modern Haiku Competition, 1991.
2. “Special Prize”, The 2nd Love Poems Competition in Japan, 1991.
3. Three gogyoshi selected in an anthology of English tanka all over the world: “TAKE FIVE, Best Contemporary Tanka, volume 4” in 2012.
4. Poet Laureate Award, Axlepin Publishing in Philippines, 2013.
5. International Excellent Poet Award in Japan, 2014

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LlucbYVW7ig

The post Gogyoshi by Taro Aizu first appeared on Prachya Review.