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Poetry

Wheels

By Takako Arai
Translated from Japanese by Jeffrey Angles
Japanese poet Takako Arai conjures an unvanquishable ghost, who literally left work undone.


Video: Takako Arai and Jeffrey Angles read “Wheels” (credits below)

A fire’s coming! It’ll be here soon!
A female snake kept warning us
For ages it lived in the storage above the closet
We grew up hearing its voice
Each time we laid out the bedding
My sister and I could hardly stand it
We’d lie anxiously in wait, temples pounding
It’s coming! It’ll be here tonight!
It is out? It is out yet?
Has someone smothered it? Are there any cracks for it to get in?

We lowered our eyes to check

The snake was one of the factory girls three generations ago
She was so beautiful she turned the heads of men who passed by
The man she loved cheated on her
She started taking methamphetamines so often
She couldn’t leave the workers’ dormitory
She started having visions
She hallucinated about fire
A fire’s coming! It’ll be here soon!
Perhaps she wanted her own fires to burn
There were only women in the factory
They poured water into her mouth from a teapot
And she came to for a moment
One side of her face was smiling
But her expression looked so forlorn
With her hairline raised in a peak
A fire’s coming! Hot! Hot!
She steamed, went into convulsions, and died dreaming bad dreams
They say they gave her a funeral right there
Her brother didn’t come for her ashes
Even the locks of hair that her coworkers saved
Were stashed away in storage
It was that hair that cried out to us
Night after night

The fire in the kitchen range, the fire in the stove
The charcoal in the brazier, the cigarettes in the ashtray
The heater beneath the bath
The metal latch in the sliding door, the window key
We’d check them each one by one
When we grew too intent, we’d forget where we were
The snake would cry out, Look, it’s a trap! and we’d start all over again
A fire is coming! It’ll be here soon!
We had to crawl on the floor
Who knows how many times our eyes licked
The charcoal stoves by the women’s feet
In the spinning factory

I was terrified of the voice, it would get under my skin
It was my older sister pulling my leg
She imitated the factory girl
She turned off the bathroom light so it was pitch black
And imitated the dead girl, A fire’s coming! It’ll be here soon!
She made me cry
I cried and clung to my sister as she teased me
She was just trying to scare me
But even so
In the slowly cooling steam
Her eyes sparkled with a strange gleam
As if she were speaking the truth
A fire’s coming! A fire’s coming! Coming! Coming!
The factory’s going to burn!

Her voice, the voice evoked the snake
And came after me
It turned upon me and came after me
It got under our skin, swallowing
The two of us together, naked

We’d try to endure it as we rolled up the bedding
But we’d always crawl out
And the snake would lift itself up
The factory girl
Looked for the fire with us
We’d slither, slither, slither
The ceiling would spit out dust
The handles on the chest would rattle
I don’t get it! The more I look
The more fiery apparitions appear in the sparks

We’d check over and over to see if the fires were out
If the gas on the kitchen range was out
If the cigarette butts in the ashtrays were out
If the burning embers in the hibachi were out
We’d light them
By setting our eyes upon
Those ghostly flames
I who was chasing my sister who was chasing the factory girl who was chasing my sister who was chasing me who was chasing
Me who was chasing me who was chasing the factory girl who was chasing my sister who was chasing . . .
We were mice, gasping, chasing one another in a big whirl
We were house mice, shaking our breasts in fear
We can’t catch you!
We called out to the sparks

While the spinning wheels smiled

We’d light fireworks by the ditch by the factory
We’d bring the brass candlestick from the family’s Buddhist altar
We’d bring the colored paper near the flame for our ancestors
And the powder would suck it in
It would choke a bit
Then the flame
Would spring up
Would turn, would kick the gravel
Would steal the children’s ankles
Would reflect in the water
Would explode and
Would scorch the straps of our sandals and at the same time
Would get under our skin
The flame had no feet
Nor did the dead
So the flames would try to swallow us
We were the ones being chased
We were the ones
They were after

The spinning wheels smiled

There was a bright red quilt
Sewn from underclothes
The factory girl wore beneath her kimono
When I snuggled into it
My face would grow red
And wind would pass through my throat
Snuggle further down
The setting sun shone, flashing
The thick snake started slithering
From the storage closet
Coming for the two little mice
Its eyes clear, the color of flame

Flaring
The flame
Crawled closer

It was on fire
The factory girl, her hair had come lose
And had become the shimmering of the heat
It was on fire
My sister, she stuck out her tongue
From behind her buck teeth
I stood
On the edge of the ditch
The flame
Burning at my ankles

The spinning wheels turn. They turn in the hot wind. They turn under the flames’ hot hands. They turn intently. They turn like a coiled snake. They turn staring at fate. The factory is a wheel of flame. It turns in a whirlpool of fire. It spins on and on to the end of the world. It spins on and on to the end of time.

It is spinning

It is spinning its bright red thread


©
Takako Arai. By arrangement with the author. Translation © 2016 by Jeffrey Angles. All rights reserved.

Video Credits:

詩 Poem
新井 高子/Takako Arai

詩訳 Translation
ジェフリー•アングルス/Jeffrey Angles

朗読 Poetry Reading
新井 高子/Takako Arai
ジェフリー•アングルス/Jeffrey Angles

撮影•照明 Chinematographer/Lighting
川添 彩/Aya Kawazoe
中村 雄太/Takehiro Nakamura
鈴木 余位/Yoi Suzuki

録音 Sound
川本 直人/Naoto Kawamoto

編集 Editor
鈴木 余位/Yoi Suzuki
川添 彩/Aya Kawazoe

映像提供 Film Providing for “Shadows”
能瀬 大助/Daisuke Nose(「人のかたち」/“The Shape of a Man”)

助監督 Assistant Director
イナン•オネル/Inan Öner

製作 Producer
新井 高子/Takako Arai

監督 Director
鈴木 余位/Yoi Suzuki

English Japanese (Original)


Video: Takako Arai and Jeffrey Angles read “Wheels” (credits below)

A fire’s coming! It’ll be here soon!
A female snake kept warning us
For ages it lived in the storage above the closet
We grew up hearing its voice
Each time we laid out the bedding
My sister and I could hardly stand it
We’d lie anxiously in wait, temples pounding
It’s coming! It’ll be here tonight!
It is out? It is out yet?
Has someone smothered it? Are there any cracks for it to get in?

We lowered our eyes to check

The snake was one of the factory girls three generations ago
She was so beautiful she turned the heads of men who passed by
The man she loved cheated on her
She started taking methamphetamines so often
She couldn’t leave the workers’ dormitory
She started having visions
She hallucinated about fire
A fire’s coming! It’ll be here soon!
Perhaps she wanted her own fires to burn
There were only women in the factory
They poured water into her mouth from a teapot
And she came to for a moment
One side of her face was smiling
But her expression looked so forlorn
With her hairline raised in a peak
A fire’s coming! Hot! Hot!
She steamed, went into convulsions, and died dreaming bad dreams
They say they gave her a funeral right there
Her brother didn’t come for her ashes
Even the locks of hair that her coworkers saved
Were stashed away in storage
It was that hair that cried out to us
Night after night

The fire in the kitchen range, the fire in the stove
The charcoal in the brazier, the cigarettes in the ashtray
The heater beneath the bath
The metal latch in the sliding door, the window key
We’d check them each one by one
When we grew too intent, we’d forget where we were
The snake would cry out, Look, it’s a trap! and we’d start all over again
A fire is coming! It’ll be here soon!
We had to crawl on the floor
Who knows how many times our eyes licked
The charcoal stoves by the women’s feet
In the spinning factory

I was terrified of the voice, it would get under my skin
It was my older sister pulling my leg
She imitated the factory girl
She turned off the bathroom light so it was pitch black
And imitated the dead girl, A fire’s coming! It’ll be here soon!
She made me cry
I cried and clung to my sister as she teased me
She was just trying to scare me
But even so
In the slowly cooling steam
Her eyes sparkled with a strange gleam
As if she were speaking the truth
A fire’s coming! A fire’s coming! Coming! Coming!
The factory’s going to burn!

Her voice, the voice evoked the snake
And came after me
It turned upon me and came after me
It got under our skin, swallowing
The two of us together, naked

We’d try to endure it as we rolled up the bedding
But we’d always crawl out
And the snake would lift itself up
The factory girl
Looked for the fire with us
We’d slither, slither, slither
The ceiling would spit out dust
The handles on the chest would rattle
I don’t get it! The more I look
The more fiery apparitions appear in the sparks

We’d check over and over to see if the fires were out
If the gas on the kitchen range was out
If the cigarette butts in the ashtrays were out
If the burning embers in the hibachi were out
We’d light them
By setting our eyes upon
Those ghostly flames
I who was chasing my sister who was chasing the factory girl who was chasing my sister who was chasing me who was chasing
Me who was chasing me who was chasing the factory girl who was chasing my sister who was chasing . . .
We were mice, gasping, chasing one another in a big whirl
We were house mice, shaking our breasts in fear
We can’t catch you!
We called out to the sparks

While the spinning wheels smiled

We’d light fireworks by the ditch by the factory
We’d bring the brass candlestick from the family’s Buddhist altar
We’d bring the colored paper near the flame for our ancestors
And the powder would suck it in
It would choke a bit
Then the flame
Would spring up
Would turn, would kick the gravel
Would steal the children’s ankles
Would reflect in the water
Would explode and
Would scorch the straps of our sandals and at the same time
Would get under our skin
The flame had no feet
Nor did the dead
So the flames would try to swallow us
We were the ones being chased
We were the ones
They were after

The spinning wheels smiled

There was a bright red quilt
Sewn from underclothes
The factory girl wore beneath her kimono
When I snuggled into it
My face would grow red
And wind would pass through my throat
Snuggle further down
The setting sun shone, flashing
The thick snake started slithering
From the storage closet
Coming for the two little mice
Its eyes clear, the color of flame

Flaring
The flame
Crawled closer

It was on fire
The factory girl, her hair had come lose
And had become the shimmering of the heat
It was on fire
My sister, she stuck out her tongue
From behind her buck teeth
I stood
On the edge of the ditch
The flame
Burning at my ankles

The spinning wheels turn. They turn in the hot wind. They turn under the flames’ hot hands. They turn intently. They turn like a coiled snake. They turn staring at fate. The factory is a wheel of flame. It turns in a whirlpool of fire. It spins on and on to the end of the world. It spins on and on to the end of time.

It is spinning

It is spinning its bright red thread


©
Takako Arai. By arrangement with the author. Translation © 2016 by Jeffrey Angles. All rights reserved.

Video Credits:

詩 Poem
新井 高子/Takako Arai

詩訳 Translation
ジェフリー•アングルス/Jeffrey Angles

朗読 Poetry Reading
新井 高子/Takako Arai
ジェフリー•アングルス/Jeffrey Angles

撮影•照明 Chinematographer/Lighting
川添 彩/Aya Kawazoe
中村 雄太/Takehiro Nakamura
鈴木 余位/Yoi Suzuki

録音 Sound
川本 直人/Naoto Kawamoto

編集 Editor
鈴木 余位/Yoi Suzuki
川添 彩/Aya Kawazoe

映像提供 Film Providing for “Shadows”
能瀬 大助/Daisuke Nose(「人のかたち」/“The Shape of a Man”)

助監督 Assistant Director
イナン•オネル/Inan Öner

製作 Producer
新井 高子/Takako Arai

監督 Director
鈴木 余位/Yoi Suzuki

横書き

火が来るよ、もうすぐここに火が来るよ、
って 知らせつづける女の蛇がいましてね、
押入れの天袋に、ようようと住まっておったんです
布団に入ェるたび、
その声 聞こえて、大きくなったから、姉さんも わたしも、
しまいに 保たなくなってしまったの、
ぎゅうぎゅうに こめかみが張り込んで、
今夜じゃねェか、今夜じゃねェか、
消したか、切ったか、閉めたか、火の矢が入る隙間はないのか、
目ン玉 落ッことすほど、確かめるよになってしまって、

蛇は、三代前の女工さんの化身です
すれ違う男衆が 振りかえる別嬪だったけども、
慕った人に 騙されて、
ヒロポンやるよになってしまって、
寄宿から出られんほど、
夢サ 見るよになってしまって、
火が来るよ、もうすぐここに火が来るよ、
火事の幻 見ておった
あッこに 火ィ点かるの、焦がれてたンかもしンないねぇ
女ばっかしの工場だから、
吸呑で水ふくますと、ちっと気もどりして、
片頬が笑ったってがァ
見ッ事な富士額が、せつな気で、
火が来るよ、熱いよ熱いよ、
って 蒸気して、痙攣して、うなされ死した
ここで葬式あげたって、聞きました
里の兄さんは もらいに来ねェで、
形見になった髷さえ、
とうとう天袋にしまい込まれて、
それですよ、
夜ごと 騒ェでンのは、

焜炉の火、ストーブの炎、炬燵のレンタン、煙草盆、
風呂の釜、雨戸の掛け金、窓の鍵、
あんまり真剣だと、
ひとつ見たあと、前のがわからなくなるもんです
ソリャ八百長だって 蛇さまの声すれば、初めっからやりなおし、
火が来るよ、もうすぐ来るよ、
這いずらざるをえんのです
糸繰り工場の 足もとに置く七輪、
二人とも どんだけ目で舐めたか、わかんねェ

齧りッ付くから、声はおッかねェよ
きっかけは姉さんで、
ただ ふざけてただけなんです
ふりしてただけなんですよ、女工さんの、
風呂場の灯り まっ暗にして、
火が来るよ、熱いよ熱いよ、って 真似すンだもの
わたしは 泣きました
おどかす姉にしッがみついて 泣きました
びっくらしただけなんです
でも、
幼い姉は底光りして、冷えていく湯気ン中で、
真へ、迫って いきました
火が来るよ、火が来るよ、来るよ来るよ工場が燃えるよ、
声が 声サ 手ェかけて、
来てしまった
踵を返して、来てしまった
ギィッと、
喰い込まれる、まッ裸の二人でした

布団サ おッくるまって、こらえてたけど、
どうしても 這い出して、
背中に スーっと立っている、
女工さんは、
いっしょに 火の元 のぞきこんでる
這って、這って、這いずって、
天井裏が 埃サ吐いて、
簞笥の把手が カタカタ鳴って、
腹に下りねェの、実感が、
わからねェの、いッくらしても、
火の気サ見て、火の怪を 見つけてしまう、
わたしたちは、
消したかどうかの度が過ぎて、
消えてる焜炉の瓦斯穴が、
消えてる煙草の吸い殻が、
消えてる火鉢の燃え滓が、
灯ってしまう、
見てしまう、
怪し火を、
追ッかけるわたしを追ッかける姉さんを追ッかける女工さんを追ッかけるわたしは、
追ッかける姉さんを追ッかける女工さんを追ッかけるわたしを追ッかけるわたしは、
わたしたちは、
巴になって喘ェでる 鼠です
乳サびくびく震わした 家鼠です
追ッ付かないの
走り火に、

糸車が笑ってる

工場脇のドブ川のほとりで、よく花火したもんです
仏壇から真鍮のローソク立て 持ってきて、
仏さんの火に、色紙よせて、
じんわり 火薬サ吸わします
ちっと咽せてから、
火は、
跳ねるでしょう、
回るでしょう、砂利けって、
子どものくるぶし 掠めとろうとするでしょう
水に映って、
プンッと 鼻緒が焦げたとき、
齧りッ付くんです、
火は、
ないでしょう、足が、仏さんには、
だから 喰らいッ付くんです
追われてンのは、わたしたち なんですよ
わたしたち、
なんですよ

糸車が笑ってる

まッ赤な夜具がありました
女工さんの古襦袢サ はぎ合わしたものでした
潜りッこめば、
面映ゆくて、風が喉を抜けました
いっそう潜れば、
西日が射して、らんらんと、
太った蛇が、
天袋から 這い出そうとしておりました
二匹の鼠を 狙っていました
瞳が 火色に 透けていました
めらめら、
炎が、
這ってくる、

燃えました、
女工さんが、
髪がほどけて、かげろうになりました
燃えました、
姉さんが、
反ッ歯から、ちょろっとベロを出しました
わたしは、
ドブッ端に立っていました
くるぶしが、
カッと裂け、

糸車が回ってる。熱風に回ってる。火の手をつかんで回ってる。執念深く回ってる。

とぐろのように回ってる。宿世をにらんで回ってる。紡績工場は、火の車。火の渦

のんで回ってる。どこまでも回ってる。いつまでも回ってる。

回ってる。

まッ赤な糸を紡いでる。

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