Chronicle of Drifting

by Yuki Tanaka

Chronicle of Drifting enacts a restless quest for belonging, interweaving dreamlike imagery and Japanese lyricism



Yuki Tanaka’s stunning debut, Chronicle of Drifting, explores rootlessness, its beauty and perils. Tanaka’s restless imagination roams among places and personae—a village mermaid, a geisha in the Midwest, a flâneur in Tokyo—searching for a permanent self and a sense of community. In the feverish world of these poems, inspired by the Japanese tradition of tanka and haiku, as well as by timeless surrealism, one meets a light-lashed horse, an imaginary chauffeur, an out-of-business psychic, a girl who skewers a fish with a flower stalk. In poems ranging from lyric to prose, Tanaka creates a poignant dreamlike realm where the inner and outer worlds, the self and others, merge—like the train passenger who, looking out the window and seeing the sky through his reflection, feels “empty, a blue outline.”

Genres: Poetry

69 pages, Paperback

Published April 15, 2025

About the author

Yuki Tanaka was born and raised in Yamaguchi, Japan. He is an MFA student at the Michener Center for Writers at he University of Texas-Austin. His poems have appeared or are forthcoming in American Poetry Review, Best New Poets, Kenyon Review, Poetry, and elsewhere. His translations of modern Japanese poetry (with Mary Jo Bang) have appeared in New Republic, Paris Review, and A Public Space, among other journals. He is poetry editor of Bat City Review.

Reviews

[Noam Levinsky · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is some of the best contemporary poetry I’ve ever read I think

My favorites: I was born in a mountain next to my brother, exhibition of desire, the body in fragments, chronicle of drifting, anatomy, discourse on vanishing

I like how landscapes, especially midwestern ones, take on this surreal and mysterious quality. I like how deep and compelling the imagery is without having any connection to a particular place in my mind. This collection feels like a desperate search for home, an insistence on beauty in rootlessness. I love it.

[Choo En Ting · Rating 4 out of 5]

Yuki's Japanese heritage shines through in his first collection and makes his verses stand apart from other contemporary Western poets. He writes so quietly and beautifully, even if the poem is about something devastating and grotesque; the lyricism and melody of the lines make meaning less important as the sonic qualities of the poem already capture you in a trance. A surrealist masterpiece of unexpected use of language and novel images. Also, Yuki is such a kind and lovable soul. It is a privilege to be his friend!

[Benjamin Niespodziany · Rating 5 out of 5]

There's surrealism that feels absurd and over-the-top, then there's Tanaka's surrealism, which feels more like peacefully daydreaming. Slightly floating at ease. Resting on a cloud. The title of this collection is all too fitting. A great debut collection. Hallucinatory, meditative, and unique.

[chris · Rating 2 out of 5]

the girl who skewered the fish with a flower
-- "Chronicle of Drifting"

are you too a reincarnator
you have that forsythia look
-- "Afterlife"

[Amanda Perry · Rating 4 out of 5]

This felt like a dream. Very enjoyable.

[Connie · Rating 5 out of 5]

from "The Village of the Mermaids": "I have learned to sit still on a chair // in front of my house and remember our home, / where I wore a necklace of sea-foam / some called a lovely snare."