Poetry. Asian American Studies. Translated from the Japanese by William I. Elliott and Kawamura Kazuo. In Japan, where even the imperial couple are required to turn off poems as part of their official functions, it is not surprising that thereis a long tradition of purely perfunctory poetry. Nonetheless, Japan's most popular living poet, Tanikawa Shuntaro, has always been known for upsetting the apple carts of Japan's formulaic society. Here he does it again, sacralizing poetry in its purely perfunctory forms as a gift that may be appropriate for any occasion. Lifting occasional poetry to a higher plane, here are poems about hunger and books, the recently constructed longest bridge in Japan, cherry blossoms, two dead friends,Mozart and weeds, making love to various women, various observations on cats, and diving into a swimming pool to wash off the lies of the world.

Shuntaro Tanikawa was born in 1931 in Tokyo, the son of a philosopher. His first book of poems was published in 1952. His poetry has been collected in more than sixty books and translated into fifteen languages. In addition, he has translated Mother Goose rhymes and Charles Schultz's Peanuts into Japanese. He has earned a reputation as one of Japan's most inventive masters of form and language. In 1989 he received the American Book Award for Floating the River in Melancholy.