Sawako Nakayasu selects poems that confront griefs personal and national, told directly and obliquely. She introduces Timothy Liu documenting the crimes of Japanese imperialism (“A Requiem for the Homeless Spirits”), Daniel Borzutzky’s translation of Raul Zurita mourning for atrocities committed by the Chilean dictatorship (“Song for His Disappeared Love”), and Keith Waldrop conjuring a grief-riddled dream landscape (“An Apparatus”). Nakayasu closes with her own “Ant in a silvery tide,” a poem linked to a time of personal grief.
Find the full recordings of Liu, Borzutzky, and Waldrop reading for the Poetry Center on Voca:
Timothy Liu (February 20, 2014)
Daniel Borzutzky (January 10, 2019)
Keith Waldrop (with Rosmarie Waldrop, March 5, 2011)
You can also enjoy three recordings of Nakayasu reading for the Poetry Center in 2007, 2018, and 2023.