Japan: A Fukushima Poet Tweets His Verses · Global Voices
Scilla Alecci

This post is part of our special coverage Japan Earthquake 2011.
Since the March 11 Japan earthquake and tsunami disaster, Ryoichi Wago (和合亮一), a poet from Fukushima city, has been experimenting with a new form of poetry to express his feelings about issues such as uncertainty of the future and fear of radiation that have been threatening his land and its inhabitants.
@wago2828's profile picture.
To make known  his verses, he has chosen Twitter as an exceptional media.
Using the 140-character-long tweets, Wago concentrates his thoughts creating a stream of verses where it is difficult to point to the beginning or the end. Sometimes, the repetition of a same word or character may create a visual image [ja] that resembles the stylistic devices of Futuristic poetry.
Below is a collection of poetic tweets by @wago2828, wherein he describes his memories at the time when the earthquake struck and the following feelings of anxiety and hope.
@wago2828 和合亮一
私は3.11以降、震災にまつわる新聞や雑誌を集めて、少しずつ切り抜きをしているが、切り抜きをしても追いつかないのだ、紙とハサミとの間で、震災が繰り返されているから、冷たい汗。
@wago2828 和合亮一
私は風呂に入ると、泣きながらお湯に浸かったあの日の夜を思い起こす。涙があふれてくるのだ。１０００年に一度の3.11よ、冷たい汗。
@wago2828 和合亮一
１０００年に一度の3.11よ、冷たい汗。
wago2828
津波の後を眺めながら、相馬の浜を走っていた。船が陸に上がり横倒しになって、瓦礫が積み上がっているところから、恰幅のいい男性が、拳でぼろぼろとこぼれる涙を拭きながら歩いてきた…。
wago2828
何を失ったのか、流されてしまったのか、分からないけれど…、これまでたくさん人生を生きてきて、拳で拭わなくちゃならない悲しみを、今まで予想してきたことがあったのだろうか、そう思った。…　そう語り、ある日、Ａさんは泣いた。
wago2828
私は髪を洗う、私も泣くしかない。避難している人々は慌てずに落ち着いて、福島の山間を抜けて下さい…、そんなラジオ放送を聞きながら、お風呂に入ったっけ…、浴室はあれから一度も、窓を開けていない。
wago2828
水に浮かんだ畳の上に、ご老人が座っていた。消防団の人が、それを見つけて、ロープを投げた、必死の救出が始まったが、悲しくも水の上でしだいに彼は力を奪われていった…。
wago2828
彼は、「立派な、いわきを作ってくれ」と叫んで、手を離して、まもなく海に沈んでいった…、助けられなかった、消防団の人々はみな、悔しくて泣きじゃくった。…それを教えてくれながら、ある日、Ｏさんは泣いた。
wago2828
私は髪を洗う、私も泣くしかない。浴室はあれから一度も、窓を開けていない。
I was running along the shores of Soma, gazing at the aftermath of the tsunami. Among the overturned ship and and pile of rubble, a sternly built man walks, wiping the endless trail of  tears spilling down his cheeks, with his fist…
I can’t imagine what he had lost, or what had been sweat away… In this long life of mine, had I ever imagined sorrow that must be wiped away with a fist… The thought crossed my mind. Mr. A cried, telling the story one day.
I wash my hair. For me too, all I can do is cry. All evacuees, please calmly evacuate from the mountains of Fukushima… I remember stepping into the bath as I heard that on the radio… Since then, I’ve never opened the bathroom window.
An old man sits on a floating tatami. The fire brigade desperately tries to rescue him and throws him a rope. Sadly, the water eventually overcomes his strength…
‘Make Iwaki great again…’ he cried out, as he let go of the rope and sank into the sea… The fire brigade sobbed uncontrollably from regret… O san cried, telling me the story one day
I wash my hair. For me too, all I can do is cry. Since then, I’ve never opened the bathroom window.
A person from Tomioka was allowed back home for 2 hours. In the house they had entered for the first time in a while, that person did something. Can you guess what that person was doing in the house? Asked O san
Just crying, for 2 hours…
And that person came back without anything from the house. O san comforted them by saying… ‘I went home to cry… just tell yourself that’s what you went home to do’.
I wash my back. For me too, all I can do is cry. Since then, I’ve never opened the bathroom window.
Soma City, after the tsunami, by Flickr user hee_san. CC license BY-NC 2.0.
@wago2828
風呂から上がると、また新聞を切り抜く。悲しい顔や頑張るという表情を切り、並べて貼っていく。切ることを止めれば、全ては止むのか。貼ることを止めれば、全ては虚実となるのか。冷たい汗。書斎は、あの日から一度も窓は開けたことがない。
wago2828
この震災は何を私たちに教えたいのか。教えたいものなぞ無いのなら、なおさら何を信じれば良いのか。
wago2828
ものみな全ての事象における意味などは、それらの事後に生ずるもの。ならば「事後」そのものの意味とは、何か。そこに意味はあるのか。
wago2828
ここまで人を痛めつける意味はあるのか。
wago2828
放射能が降っています。静かな夜です。
@wago2828 行き着くところは涙しか無い。
What is it that this disaster wants to teach us? If there's nothing it wants to teach us, then what should I believe in?
Meanings of an occurrence, appear afterwards. But what is the meaning of that post-occurrence period? Is there any meaning there?
Is there any meaning in making people suffer this much?
Radiation is falling from the sky. It’s a quiet night.
There is only one place I end up, in tears.
wago2828
魂を返せ、夢を返せ、福島を返せ、命を返せ、故郷を返せ、草いきれを返せ、村を返せ、詩を返せ、胡桃の木を返せ
wago2828
魂の木を想う、魂が転がる闇を想う、魂は夜を明かす、魂は言葉を呟く、魂を生きよ、魂を生きている、あなた
wago2828
あなた　大切なあなた　あなたの頬に　涙
wago2828
いつか　安らぎの　一筋となるように　祈ります
Give me back my soul, give me back my dream, give me back Fukushima, give back the lives lost, give back my hometown, give back  that hot air rising from the grass, give back the town, give back the poem, give back the walnut tree
I think about the tree’s soul, I think about the darkness that soul is rolling around in, the soul passes the night, the soul mutters the word, live, the soul is alive, you…
You, my precious you, tears… on your cheek
I pray that one day, it will become a ray of hope
wago2828
共に信じる　ここに記す
wago2828
祈りとして　この言に託す
wago2828
明けない夜は無い
Believe together… I record herein
I place my prayers in these words…
Night is always followed by dawn
This post is part of our special coverage Japan Earthquake 2011.