Sawako Nakayasu Surreal-Absurd Sampler

We are delighted to have a selection of Sawako Nakayasu’s poems from Some Girls Walk Into The Country They Are From (Wave Books) in Surreal-Absurd this fortnight. First, here are some words from Sawako on her writing in relation to the surreal and absurd:

“At some point, as if there was some kind of tipping point, there seemed to be enough surreal aspects to the supposedly real world, which made it simply a more honest way to try to reckon with said world. In terms of poetic practices, it was Francis Ponge and his delightful prose poems that held open the door for me.”—Sawako Nakayasu

.

Sawako Nakayasu is an artist working with language, performance, and translation. Her newest books include Pink Waves (Omnidawn), Some Girls Walk Into The Country They Are From (Wave Books) and the pamphlet, Say Translation Is Art (Ugly Duckling Presse). Settle Her, which was written on the #1 bus line in Providence on Thanksgiving Day of 2017, is forthcoming from Solid Objects. She teaches at Brown University.

Photo — Mitsuo Okamoto