Mari Kashiwagi

Butterfly; Rain, Star & Moon; Rainbow: Mari Kashiwagi, translated by Takako Lento

蝶Butterfly 

きこえることと

きこえないことの

あいだを
こわしてゆく

Butterfly moves on
collapsing
the space between

hearing and

not hearing

*

蝶は

時間のさきに
咲きこぼれている時間

Butterfly is

Time lavishly blooming
on the edge of time

*

知るということを
積めないほどに
軽い

Butterfly
so airy
unable to bear
the burden
of knowing

*

蝶は

蝶のあとを
舞う
時間

Butterfly is

Time
whirling
after her being

*

おしえにきた
のに
すべてを
わすれてしまった

Butterfly
came to foretell
yet
finds herself free
of all memory

*

蝶が
行ってしまった

蝶のかたちの
時間だけをのこして

Butterfly is
gone

leaving behind only
Time
shaped like a butterfly

*

行ってしまうこと を

つつんだ
からだ

Butterfly

that she will be gone

is sealed
in her being

 

雨・星・月 Rain, Star and Moon 

雨が

蝶をきく

Rain

listens for a butterfly

*

蝶のために

夜あけが
やさしさを増す

For a butterfly

the day dawns
more warmly

*

蝶と はなれようとしない 星

Star unwilling to leave Butterfly

*

蝶に

見入る
月光

Butterfly

captivates
moonlight

*

うまれかけの蝶が
星にむすばれている

A butterfly about to emerge
tied to a star

*

蝶の
ゆくえを
したう

Rain
longingly
trails behind
Butterfly

虹 Rainbow 

虹がおよぐ

蝶がここにいたことを

Rainbow shimmers

memory of Butterfly
having been here

*

蝶のほとりに

まどろむ虹

On Butterfly’s shoreline

Rainbow slumbers

*

虹の
言えなかったこと の

What Rainbow
could not articulate

a butterfly

*

空が

虹にうまれかわるという

Sky’s

reincarnation as a rainbow

Butterfly

*

蝶による

虹の調律

Butterfly is

tuning Rainbow

*

虹が
のぼり

蝶が
しずむ

Rainbow

rises

Butterfly
alights

 

Mari Kashiwagi was born in Erlangen, Germany, but raised in Japan. She is a Japanese poet, art curator and writer. She won an award of the prestigious poetry magazine, Gendaishi Techo (1995). Her first collection, Music, of Days, was published in 2000. The second poetry collection, Nectar’s root as far as its Resonance reaches, came out in 2008. Excerpts from it are presented in the Poetry International Web. The third poetry collection, Butterfly (2020) is written in Japanese with an English translation by Takako Lento. Amber (2015) collects her lyrics for children's songs. She is also the author of two books on Japanese ceramic art. Her interest in both words and images, and the chemistry between different mediums, is also reflected in her active involvement with the collaborations between artists and musicians. She has been invited to read at the Struga Portry Evenings (Macedonia 2014), InterLese (Germany 2016), and The Princeton Festival (U.S.A. 2018). Her poems are translated into English, Spanish, Macedonian, Serbian, Portuguese, Italian, Russian, French, Persian, and Arabic.