Commentary
by Hideo Yokokawa     

( I )

Reprint from English Japanese bilingual book of poetry
"A Field of Poetry by Phyllis Hoge_Thompson VOL. 1"
with Japanese translation by Hideo Yokokawa
published by Hy H. Yokokawa & Partners, Tokyo in June, 2000.

The total number of poems by Phyllis Hoge Thompson which I have in my hands is approximately 180. I am in the process of translating them into Japanese, aiming at a future publication in print. In this website, 17 works are recorded, poems selected from those prepared for her reading when she visited Japan in the autumn of 1998. She lives in Albuquerque, New Mexico, USA, and she is 72 years old.. Despite her age, however, she is still vigorously producing many kinds of literary creation.

Amongst the poems recorded here, you will find those whose theme has been adopted from ancient Greek, as Greek language and literature comprised a basic field of study for her. Although I believe that slavish academism sometimes kills creative ability, binding it too closely to scholarship, this is not true in her work. By breaking and exceeding limitations implied by the academy, she has created her own style of literature.

Moreover, in 1966 for a federal project of the USA aimed at fostering the practice of poetry, she initiated the first Poets in the Schools program in the country. Moreover, in her position as Professor at the University of Hawaii, she was for several years in charge of the study of world literature, in connection with which she gave special attention to "Genji" and to the masters of the haiku. Therefore she is well versed in ancient Japanese literature as well as in Greek. Her familiarity with Japanese traditions you may find in the evocative and lightly humorous "Koetsu: Moon and Rabbit" and in the serious and philosophical "Ryoanji," both of which grew out of many years of work grounded in creative intelligence. "Ryoanji" was inspired by her visit to this shrine in Kyoto with the translator in the autumn of 1998 and completed at Yaddo, an artists' colony in Saratoga Springs, NY, on January 22, 1999. Marjorie Sinclair, to whom this poem is dedicated, widow of Leon Edel is likewise a poet whose work is strongly grounded in familiarity with Japanese literature.

Privately my favorite among the poems recorded in this site is "Jade." The reason is that I find in it a very beautiful world where ancient Greek literature is closely integrated with the Japanese gorgeous picture-scroll of Genji.

Readers will discover in her work that her world is various and wide as well as very intricately detailed. As a whole, from the stream flowing from the source of her works, I conclude that her substance is true intelligence and an elevated (Parnassian) broad perspective.

Particularly for us living in this dry mechanical modern time, the points to which we have to give our keen attention in study are the lofty artistic consciousness such as is shown in "Marble" and a faithfulness for us to live honorably as is described in "Hermione."

At any rate, I have in my hands many of her poems to be translated in the future. Years of time will be needed before I can finish the whole of my translations, and of course she is continually creating additional new poems. At this early stage, however, I am very happy and feel honored that the author gave me her willing consent to publish a selection of her poetry in this website. I hope this work of mine and hers will meet with readers' approval again when my whole job is completed sometime in the future.

( Tokyo, September 30, 1999 )

( II )

Reprint from the English Japanese bilingual book of poetry
"A Field of Poetry by Phyllis Hoge Thompson VOL. 2"
with Japanese translation by Hideo Yokokawa
published by Hy H. Yokokawa & Partners, Tokyo in August, 2000

Beginning

It was perhaps around October 28, 1998 that I received an e-mail from Laurel Eileen Wills Sicks stating that she had as a guest a well known poet from the States, who would be willing to read her poems, and asking me if I had any idea for such a presentation. She assured me that she would send the necessary profile and some of Phyllis Hoge Thompson's poems as well.

I soon received by email a brief profile and two poems -- "Friends" and "Complicity." Since my English is based on the commercial business, I was unaccustomed to reading English poetry very well. Upon perusing these poems, however, I immediately found that these works were extraordinary. I therefore went to Abiko where Laurel Sicks was in charge of the James Joyce Parlor, where Phyllis Hoge Thompson was at that time housed. Phyllis kindly invited to talk with her, and from the very first we were able to be mutually relaxed in our conversation. Enjoying coffee and cookies, we talked more than an hour. She struck me as a person of good will and plain common sense. From the beginning of our meeting I felt in this poet the same kind of open mind or common sense as I had felt in Shinpei for a long time.

Since I was very closely acquainted with Shinpei Kusano from 1966 to 1989, the time of his death, I had a chance to see many poets and artists here in Japan. My proximity gave me the perception that nobody could be more misunderstood in his private life than Shinpei, who was really a great person of common sense. It rather seemed to me that the words and deeds of people who organized and surrounded the poetic/literary society here were much more unusual and peculiar than were Shinpei's words and deeds. After talking with Phyllis, and feeling her to be as open and genuine as he was, I definitely promised her that I would arrange a reading of her poems in Kobe, where I knew some people, readers of my gazette and frequenters of the society of modern poets.

The Poetry of Phyllis Hoge Thompson

Laurel once asked me which was my most favorite of the 12 poems by the poet, I immediately answered that it was "Jade." Then she asked me again, how about "Marble," and I answered it was great. I want to write here about "Marble," basing my thoughts on my free recollection. I am aware from my own experience of having edited in the past my own five books of poetry that a single poem can never define the poet, though an edited book may begin to do so.From this point of view and from the order of items recorded in "The Birth," I realize what a great poet I met with this time. I feel that this country has never ever had this type of poet in the past, a poet readers now will recognize as possessing intelligence, Parnassian transcendence and broad understanding.

* * * * * * *

Back to "Marble": At midnight when I finished my translation of this poem, I immediately switched my computer's screen to e-mail. And from a kind of inspiration arising from my work, I dispatched the following short message to her machine via Internet.

Just finished Marble
Deeply intoxicated
Do not want to return

I did not expect any answer but I just had to send it to her. Then I smoked to take a rest, and looked at the computer screen which showed the page of this translation I found a space for a short comment as a translator and added "Shale is normal daily life, while Marble is art." The page was finalized and put into the memory.

I had in my hands her handwritten note analyzing the back ground of each of the 12 works. I read it once but I did not refer to it at all during my work. However, since moving to the remaining poems, I met up with many expressions difficult for me to translate. I had to think so deeply my brain felt as though it was exploding. Again, the note did not work well.

The only thing I could count on was English grammar. The point was very simple: what the subject was, what the verb was connected to. As to definition of the meaning, I could refer to the dictionaries installed in my computer through to the end, because the slightest deviation can never be allowed, as a translator bears a serious responsibility both to the author and to the readers.

When I came to the last part of this poem, I realized that I had translated "Shale" to "mud plate stone" in the first paragraph, while in the second paragraph to "page stone". I wondered why I had done this, and then I laughed at myself. I realized that I had mixed up the verses with the habit of English business letters wherein we do not like to use the same noun repeatedly.

Then I referred to the note in question. Finding the phrase stating "Marble is art, shale is life," all of a sudden, I felt the mist disappear. I unified the meaning of "Shale" to "mud plate stone" because of the sound of it in Japanese and because of the imagination brought by the sense of sight arising from the combination of its Chinese characters. The final paragraph concludes this poem as follows:

I am clumsy. I fail. I age. I am ashamed.
This is my only life. I waste in marble.

This paragraph, being compared with the line just in the middle of the poem

Only Hermione lived, who never was marble

is raised to a noble consciousness of art almost to a ferocious degree.

This is the back ground of my sending her the e-mail message saying "Do not want to return." To my greatest regret, we have never had in the past and shall never be able to have in future such a lofty consciousness of art here in this country, I am afraid. This is the way it is for Phyllis Hoge Thompson who was born and grew up in the territory of the New England.

* * * * * * *

It was when I first met her in Abiko that, bringing a cup of coffee for me, she said, "I read your poem of life." I wondered what she meant, but I soon realized that she meant my poem "Economic Efficiency and Monetary Sense" which had recently been published in the Abiko Quarterly.. I answered lightly "Ah ha." Humanity and its spoken words are quite strange. I felt we understood each other by such simple words, whereas sometimes plausible appraisal or criticism, bad or good, makes me perplexed.

However, I thought my world of poetry, even provided it had been formed, would be opposite to hers, as I have been simply a child before a gate of poetry who learned the way by daily living very closely to Shinpei Kusano. On the other hand, however, Phyllis is definitely an elder in the world of literature. This way of feeling was correct as far as our styles of poetry are concerned. Yet I could find many common factors existing between the poet and me through my having done the translations.

The very grass
That lives through winter now
Lies hidden: All that was freely loved and let go
Returns, of its own strong will, after the snow

I try to find if I have ever created this kind of poetry. I have not. But as far as the spirit is concerned, hers and mine are the same.

About "Complicity," I believe that philosophically we are in the same orbit as far as my "Recurrent" is concerned with this poem. Understanding my responsibility as a translator, I sent an e-mail to her saying that I had dared to translate the title as "Co-lives" By return, I received her assent. In my "Recurrent", I used this wording as follows:

Let my corpse
Be buried in the ground as it is.
No place is preferred. However,
Plant on it a new sprout of oak in lieu of a tomb stone
With moisture in the soil
By relaxation and contraction of the air
My remains, by and by
Will create innumerable co-lives of bacterium

I believe neither the poet nor I expected such a concurrence as this from the beginning. This kind of entire agreement will seldom happen between author and translator, I believe. I am very happy.

It was some days ago that I had finished my translations of the said 12 poems. And now I am tempted to interpret those poems as a translator one by one. However, I believe my readers are not so poor as to need such interpretation. Or I would say I know that my readers' level exceeds my ability of writing. So, I would like to close this essay by referring to the last poem, "Eurydice"

* * * * * * *

My own previous book of poetry "at Dawn" consists of 12 chapters. I recorded in the first chapter 3 long epics regarding Alexander the Great, King Attila and Jinghis Khan. I do not even know how I obtained the technique in which I wrote this kind of epics, but I well realize how the brain works during such writing.

Therefore, when it comes to "Eurydice" picking up the theme from Ancient Greek, the situation is quite different from the others, having very complicated structure. Moreover, the theme itself is so deep that it requires repeated reading. In general, her works refuse an easy understanding even when they seem plain. However, supposing she was asked "How did you compose this poem?" perhaps her answer would be, "I myself do not know actually, but it took me a long time till I finished it." - I guess with some confidence.

The most important point of this poem is that "I" in the text means Eurydice herself as stated in the beginning of section 2.. This poem is based on the conception that I and Eurydice are always equated and doubled..

If the poet was asked; "How could you obtain such a complicated structure?" From my own experience, I guess the poet would answer "I myself don't know. It didn't come from my inspiration, but unconsciously it became so during my writing. Of course it took so many years for me to warm and prepare this theme."

* * * * * * *

In the beginning of this essay, I defined the poet as a poet of true intelligence, Parnassian and broadness of point of view. I have to explain about her being a poet of a broad point of view, a portion of which I illustrate in "What We Give", wherein the poet states

We have an ache
To be given, called desire, called lettuce leaves,
Called love tended in prison

Here the poet encourages us to recall that Nelson Mandela acted like this. This expression may seem rather common or too plain, but quite few poets can think of it actually.

(Extracted from the private gazette
"Toh-zai-nan-boku" #54 dated 1998/12/20)

* * * * * * *

Nearly 2 years have now passed since I started the translations of the whole works by Phyllis Hoge Thompson. During the period, what I have written about this poet from time to time may far exceed what is recorded in the above. I think I have to summarize and record it further someday in the near future once again. But at this moment, I am very happy that I could have a chance to record a part of what I think.

The time passes by with our good memories. Finishing this work, I feel I am very much satisfied and contented. Mutually we have been always looking towards the future, and past things have been neatly done up here. I will newly start once again step by step for the completion of the future.

PS: Our last publication bears record-breaking numerous misspellings. I am not quite sure whether or not this book is still at the same level as before as far as the typewriter's operation is concerned.

　

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