Four Tanka

Translated By Yuki Tanaka

Translated from the Japanese

Guilt

is emptied out of a body

that stands

like a scarecrow—

is that what a poem is?



Touching is different

from reaching

but I move a moth 

onto my hand

and play.



Birds that couldn’t

step back—

the second person pronoun

lacerated

by the sunset.



Massacre—

in the mass, women

are not included.

Kept alive, changing again 

into hydrangeas.
 

Source: Poetry (June 2025)