Chronicle of Drifting

Chronicle of Drifting enacts a restless quest for belonging, interweaving dreamlike imagery and Japanese lyricism Yuki Tanaka's stunning debut, Chronicle of Drifting , explores rootlessness, its beauty and perils. Tanaka's restless imagination roams among places and personae-a village mermaid, a geisha in the Midwest, a fl?neur in Tokyo--searching for a permanent self and a sense of community. In the feverish world of these poems, inspired by the Japanese tradition of tanka and haiku, as well as by timeless surrealism, one meets a light-lashed horse, an imaginary chauffeur, an out-of-business psychic, a girl who skewers a fish with a flower stalk. In poems ranging from lyric to prose, Tanaka creates a poignant dreamlike realm where the inner and outer worlds, the self and others, merge--like the train passenger who, looking out the window and seeing the sky through his reflection, feels "empty, a blue outline."