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Time of Sky & Castles in the Air

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Ayane Kawata

May 2010

C.J. Opperthauser

Sawako Nakayasu’s translation of Ayane Kawata’s Time of Sky & Castles in the Air proves that translating Japanese to English can result in a beautiful rebirth. The first half of the book, Time of Sky, is full of number-titled poems usually no longer than three or four lines in length, but these poems pack so much imagery and beautiful sounds that the reader often has no choice but to reread immediately. I found myself pausing to soak in all of the wonderful, unique images and ideas. Even simple things resound with beauty, like the description of a pigeon in 12:

Sawako Nakayasu’s translation of Ayane Kawata’s Time of Sky & Castles in the Air proves that translating Japanese to English can result in a beautiful rebirth. The first half of the book, Time of Sky, is full of number-titled poems usually no longer than three or four lines in length, but these poems pack so much imagery and beautiful sounds that the reader often has no choice but to reread immediately. I found myself pausing to soak in all of the wonderful, unique images and ideas. Even simple things resound with beauty, like the description of a pigeon in 12:

The pigeon
Does not grow any larger than that
Does not grow dark
Draws yellow on the spine

While some poems leave you both breathless and confused, I feel that they do their job. Another poem, 45, owes its strange and wonderful imagery to Kawata and its lovely wording to Nakayasu:

The noon sky
Does not fall apart
Inside the cup an enormous tongue goes numb and parishes

The latter half of the book, Castles in the Air, is, by definition, a dream journal. Each poem is exactly what you’d expect: A dream embodied in word form. Clouds, castles, being a snake – it’s all there. This section of the book serves as a fun insight to the dreams that Ayane Kawata has had, and Nakayasu’s interpretation of them. I like to think that, in translating the dream poems, Nakayasu shared some of the same dreams. I like to think that I will, too.

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