Renshi is a modern version of the traditional Japanese linked poem, renku. As the 70th anniversary for the end of World War Two approaches, and the politicians prepare for the ‘historic speech’ to be delivered on August 15, 2015, four poets from Japan, China and Korea – two Poetry International editors and two former festival poets – decide to have a trilingual renshi session, linking themselves to each other through translation and e-mails. The result is a mandala of 36 poems with the shared themes of ‘Sea’, ‘Rice’ and ‘Sun’. It is at once the celebration of humanity which transcends nation, race, and even language, and the poetic action for the ‘resistance against the world’s entropy’
Yasuhiro Yotsumoto, Kim Hyesoon, Ming Di, Shuntaro Tanikawa
The book ‘Trilingual Renshi’ can be ordered here: vagabondpress.net/products/trilingual-renshi
