Seasons of Sacred Lust

by Kazuko Shiraishi, Kenneth Rexroth (Editor & Translator), Ikuko Atsumi (Translator)

Seasons of Sacred Lust is Kazuko Shiraishi's challenge to the conventions of Japanese erotic poetry. Born in Vancouver, Canada, Shiraishi was taken to Japan by her family just prior to World War II, and her first poetry (written at age seventeen, published at twenty) emerged from the violence and ugliness of postwar Tokyo. Her earliest work, associated with the avant-garde magazine Vou, shows her talent for vivid, bizarre, almost surrealistic imagery. Her later writing, coming out of her deepening involvement in the world of modern jazz and her increasing emphasis on the performance of her poetry, dramatizes a society of estrangement and alienation where music and poetry provide the only values, and sex the only solace, in a disintegrating world. This selection is translated by a group of Japanese and American poets: Iluko Atsumi, John Solt, Carol Tinker, Yasuyo Morita, and Kenneth Rexroth who provided an informative, perceptive introduction.

Genres: Poetry, Japan, Japanese Literature, Literature

86 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1968

About the author

Kazuko Shiraishi (白石 かずこ, Shiraishi Kazuko) is a Japanese poet and translator who was born in Vancouver, Canada. She is a modernist, outsider poet who got her start in Katsue Kitazono's "VOU" poetry group, which led Shiraishi to publish her first book of poems in 1951. She has also read her poetry at jazz performances. She has appeared at readings and literary festivals all over the world

Reviews

[Anna F. · Rating 5 out of 5]

Yesterday I cut down
Old time and memory
Kicked them over the cliff
And slept holding a new tree
The tree had no name nor memory
It was just like
A young man
(...)
I can't believe everything lasts, never perishing
Constantly born, continuously living, writing in agony
And at last even resurrects . . . .

[Jack Malik · Rating 3 out of 5]

Not bad. Salleh Ben Joned spoke fondly of Shiraishi in his column.

Only one part that really struck me the most (on p. 66):

I / And we / Start to write / A very long letter / Not to eternity / But to a / Long stretch / Today

Also, “Football Player” and “A Chinese Ulysses” are absolute bangers.

[Jeffrey · Rating 4 out of 5]

At $7.95 this book is a steal. Shiraishi was closely connected, both personally and in sensibilities, to the Beat Generation writers. In Japan, she became well known for reciting her writing to jazz accompaniment.

[Maria Dedelis · Rating 3 out of 5]

A stray child’s soul on roller skates
Runs to the future world

A surreal journey into chaos and rhythm, darkness and flashes of light, realisations, mysteries as facts and facts as a religious chant. Sharp gloominess. Bitter laugh into the depth of the soul and a body that's slowly passing away.

Crows asleep in the forest of Yoyogi

[Sumaiya S. Upoma · Rating 5 out of 5]

“People / Sit cross-legged on the richness of meaning / And like beggars grab the rice of sound / Eating, they weep godly / Uncontrollably in misery.”

[Codycvlp · Rating 4 out of 5]

teeters the line between old and new (70’s) and works seamlessly. i really enjoyed this.

[Siggy · Rating 4 out of 5]

really beautiful, while some of the poems were dull "SEASONS OF THE SACRED SEX MANIAC" is probably one of the best poems of Ive ever read.

[Yes · Rating 3 out of 5]

2.5 stars but I gave additional 0.5 star for mentioning Manila in her last poem.

I tried my best to like it but for me, it was just really okay. It is not that bad, at least. The way the author writes her poetry is peculiar. I still managed to like a very few of her poems, which I will include in this review soon!

[Vel Veeter]

This is a collected/selected set of poems by the Japanese poet Kazuko Shiraisha. This is the first of its kind, regarding this specific poet, and because of these limitations, this collection is less good than it could be.

Two specific issues arise here: one, translated works are already fraught with potential issues, and poetry especially. Two, a selected/collected poetry collection often places ill-suited poems side by side as opposed to one written in a given space of time or related set of themes.

So this collection has two kinds of poems: shorter poems that often take on animals themes and images, and longer poems that are more often romantic/erotic in theme and form.

The longer poems are the stronger by far.

Here’s an example of one of the shorter poems:

Flea

I am a bloodsucker.

I am the world’s number one son of a bitch.

I take revenge for hopeless love.

A beautiful girl is irritated,

Makes a face, outs, scratches

And finds me.

So I decide to kill her.

I deliberately reach out

My sharp polished mails to her.

Then my pleasure begins to come.

Keeping out of sight at the risk of my life,

I suck her blood and run away.

I am a sadistic flea.



So while I like the connections and reversal of the John Donne poem, there definitely seems something lacking in the translation. The longest poems have more time and more words to develop the images in more interesting ways. With the smaller poems, the margin of error is significantly smaller, and I found them more lacking in general.

[Darcy Petersen · Rating 5 out of 5]

A number of poems in this book are quite long, but many are also short. Although it was originally written in Japanese, the translation is good. Probably what you would call "beat poetry" since it was often recited to music by the author, who was a big fan of jazz and blues. An amazing book.

[R.K. Cowles · Rating 3 out of 5]

3 1/2 stars

[Carly Elizabeth · Rating 4 out of 5]

Waking up from the dream and you’re already swimming. Everything is silver.