Susukeda koyomi - Sooty calendar (four poems translated in English)

Sooty calendar (Susukeda koyomi)

The day my sister is gone, married,
The fruits of eleagnus were so red.
And the day mommy’s gone, dead,
They say a wet snow was falling.
The day daddy’s gone, dead,
The ice on the roof was thawing.
And the night I left home, for good,
There were fireworks of the village fair above me.

Eleagnus




Poor harvest (Kegazu)

This cold rain that could soon turn into snow, and this thin ear of rice.
Yet I must bang an oil can to scare off annoying sparrows.
It seems the sea is agitated, and a flock of seagulls come screeching.
Absent-minded daddy does nothing but reading the letters from his daughter who left home to work at a cotton mill,
And mommy is trying to cook the pieces of potatoes she picked up in the fields, but the fire won’t burn and it only smolders,
There’re no more matches left.
The smoke fulfills the house and baby’s yelling, this will be another bullshit evening.



Seagulls (Gome)

Look at the agitated sea,
They say the catch of fish isn’t good.
Where did mommy go?
Baby’s crying in the living room.
Why not put on the lamp?



Stone (Ishiko)

Twisted minded
A stone that keeps silent, even if it’s stepped on.

If I kept silent, could I be a stone?

Life in the drain that would favor worms.

Isn’t there anyone who’d toss me up into the sky above?