Sawako Nakayasu
a poem
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Art Project
I am observing an ant trail from the tenth floor of a building, and photograph the exact same frame, once per second, sixty times, in order to have an accumulated minute of ants. Later, much later, I go back to the same exact spot where the ants once were, and place a grain of rice in the exact location of each ant in each frame. I am growing satisfied with the precision of my accumulation of ants and time as represented by grains of rice, until my postwar Japanese mother finds me and slaps me upside the head for wasting all that rice and tells me to get back inside and do my homework.
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return to sawbuck 2.2
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Sawako Nakayasu was born in Japan and has lived mostly in the US since the age of six. She is the author of two books of poetry, and two forthcoming books: Hurry Home Honey (Burning Deck) and Texture Notes (Letter Machine). Books of translations include Four From Japan (Litmus Press, 2006), and To the Vast Blooming Sky (Seeing Eye Books, 2007) by Sagawa, as well as the forthcoming For the Fighting Spirit of the Walnut (New Directions, 2008) by Takashi Hiraide.
**
Art Project
I am observing an ant trail from the tenth floor of a building, and photograph the exact same frame, once per second, sixty times, in order to have an accumulated minute of ants. Later, much later, I go back to the same exact spot where the ants once were, and place a grain of rice in the exact location of each ant in each frame. I am growing satisfied with the precision of my accumulation of ants and time as represented by grains of rice, until my postwar Japanese mother finds me and slaps me upside the head for wasting all that rice and tells me to get back inside and do my homework.
**
return to sawbuck 2.2
**
Sawako Nakayasu was born in Japan and has lived mostly in the US since the age of six. She is the author of two books of poetry, and two forthcoming books: Hurry Home Honey (Burning Deck) and Texture Notes (Letter Machine). Books of translations include Four From Japan (Litmus Press, 2006), and To the Vast Blooming Sky (Seeing Eye Books, 2007) by Sagawa, as well as the forthcoming For the Fighting Spirit of the Walnut (New Directions, 2008) by Takashi Hiraide.
