[Notebook for Finding Landmarks] 112. Rain and a Little Bit of 20th Century American Culture
Kyushu is being hit by heavy rain again. Shikoku and Chugoku as well... looking at the clouds, the Korean Peninsula is too. Please, I truly hope there will be no more rain than this.
Amidst all this, I am watching with admiration as note writers head toward new activities.
I cannot help but think that creating things is a great gift given to people.
I think it would be fine to replace that with culture.
Is it a culture where the individual is in motion?
⚫ A request to the rain, a human wish
While I can only demand an immediate stop to the heavy rain here and now, I would like to introduce one poem about rain.
All night long, the noise had
come back. And,
again, the quiet rain
is falling incessantly.
For myself, what is 'I'?
I must remember
What is 'I', at any time
What is the 'I' that is emphasized?
The 'I', which is never
an easy thing, but rather a troublesome one,
because of the falling rain,
for me,
becomes something, other, something.
Not something like this, but something else, something more.
Something that shouldn't be so obsessed over—
Within the ultimate anxiety that is 'I',
must I be trapped?
Love, if you love me,
lying by my side,
love, for me,
let it be an escape.
From fatigue,
from stupidity,
let it be an escape.
From the indulgence in indifference,
let it be an escape.
Let it be a moistening,
like rain,
in gentle happiness.
Robert Creeley, 'Rain'
Source: 'Poetry is a Way of Counting Friends' by Hiroshi Osada (Kodansha)
Robert Creeley (1926-2005) was an American poet. He was close friends with Charles Olson, Robert Duncan, Allen Ginsberg, and others, and authored nearly 60 books.
When I think of American literature, I first think of late 19th-century novels like 'Tom Sawyer' or 'Little Women'. If it's a poet, it's Whitman.
And those interested in music or counterculture will find the standard-bearers of the Beat Generation from the mid-20th century onwards: Allen Ginsberg, Jack Kerouac, and William Burroughs.
That flow is also passed down continuously to Bob Dylan. Or perhaps I could say The Blue Hearts. 'TRAIN TRAIN' and 'Aozora' are, well, yes.
Just in the mood for today.
Bob Dylan's 'Rainy Day Women #12 & 35'.
The space between those two cultural currents is not a blank.
There were many expressions and cultural activities there as well. Woody Guthrie, whom I introduced before, was one, and blues and jazz were also born during that time. Photography and the media of early cinema also spread in the blink of an eye.
In art, painters like Ben Shahn, who also depicted social satire, stand out. In terms of literature, Fitzgerald is likely the darling of that era.
There were also couples of photographers and painters, like Alfred Stieglitz and Georgia O'Keeffe.
In the field of poetry, many poets appeared. The most famous are probably Langston Hughes, Theodore Roethke, and Charles Olson. Creeley is a poet I like among them.
I believe that these cultural flows can never be mastered just by reading commentaries. I don't think I have mastered them myself.
I am still on the way.
Please teach me (with a big smile).
Even so, by immersing myself in each one of them, I can feel their breath.
I always remember this poem by Creeley when it rains for a long time. I especially remember it through this translation by Hiroshi Osada.
'Poetry is a Way of Counting Friends' is an American travelogue that mixes in American poetry. Through this, you can get a glimpse of what American poetry is.
Above all, what I felt with my own skin is one with the poetry.
I think it is a very beautiful, wonderful book.
I believe it is also available in paperback now.
After reading this book, I want to travel across America by car. Someone, please be my driver (pleading).
Above all, I sincerely hope that the falling rain will become gentle and a source of salvation.
⚫ Staying-in crafts and roses
Today is a combination that responds strongly to light. The moonstone in the middle might feel weak, but it holds a strong blue light and is unexpectedly the protagonist.
I want to become such an existence.
I hope the roses do their best.
Until next time, thank you for your patronage.
Sawa Ogata
(Sawa Ogata)