Syzygy

"One of the few good things to remember the year 2020 by"

-Poet Keijiro Suga




This playful and inventive book is an experimental engagement by poet Jordan A. Y. Smith with the verbal and visual arts of transnational Tokyo. The result is a groundbreaking dialogue that illuminates hidden meanings and joys within the spheres of translation, immigration, and visuality among other topics. Smith's poems are propelled forward with musical intensity as they converse with images by some of the world's most influential artists, notably including Makoto Aida, Mad Dog Jones, Yoshitaka Amano, Akira Yamaguchi, Manabu Ikeda, Eliza Frye, Koji Tanada, Akino Kondoh, and music producer D. Dahlinger. Jordan A. Y. Smith is editor-in-chief of Tokyo Poetry Journal, and a professor of literature and translation. Smith has translated many Japanese poets and has produced programs for BBC Radio about contemporary poetry in Japan.