Born in 1983. Lives and works in Tokyo.

He began writing poetry in his late twenties and published a collection of poems written during a stay in the United States as Graffiti in 2014. Graffiti became the first and the only poetry collection to receive both the Nakahara Chuya Prize and the Mr. H Prize. In 2017, his second poetry collection, Zekkei Note, about his travels in Southeast Asia, won the Hagiwara Sakutaro Award, the most prestigious poetry award in Japan. His latest poetry collection focuses on the ancient Japanese capital of Kyoto Nara.

The Shape of Things

they appear

and just as soon disappear

like words

like breath

the leaves sway wildly

and trembling among them

are the ears of a fox

which twitch

ever so slightly—

like subtitles, the ears only gesture

at everything below, still a fox

I am not yet enough

not for the tomato weighing down its vine

not for the glistening stream of light

not for the bird pecking away

or even for the soft, sticky spider’s thread

but it’s true

everything and anything is something

not yet enough

The parched tomato plants

that have sunk their roots into the rock

and their red fruit

are the world itself

of which we are so tired

one of them, not yet enough

but still so plump

wipe it gently,

slowly sink your teeth in,

and wow

so tart

Translated from japan by Kendall Heitzman