ChicagoPostmodernPoetry.Com
Poetic Profile
Sawako
Nakayasu 
Interview Questions for Sawako Nakayasu
1) Where did you grow up?
I was born in Yokohama, Japan, and lived there until I was six. I went to
elementary school in New York, jr high and high school in Cupertino, CA, then
left for San Diego.
2) Was poetry and writing par of that mix?
They tell me I read a lot when I was little. I managed to stay literate enough
in Japanese to read manga, which I loved and devoured. Now that I think back on
it I love the sense of time and emotion that is conveyed in the medium. I also
liked Shel Silverstein in elementary school but after that I had very little to
do with poetry until maybe college? Aside from Mad Libs, which I loved playing
on the bus on the way to summer camp. I also wrote columns for my high school
newspaper.
3) Who are your poetic influences, favorite poets, writers, artwork, other
things that inform your work?
In no particular order: John Cage. Nathalie Sarraute. Musical theater. Frank
O'Hara, Tom Raworth, Gertrude Stein, Charles Ives. Jenny Holzer. Keith Haring,
John Edgar Wideman, opera. Yoko Ono. Contact Improvisation dance. Hockey. All
kinds of movement. Insect movement. Pop music. People who talk in other
languages. These are some of my favorites, but it's hard for me to tell if and
to what extent they actually 'inform' my work.
I also love documents - graphs, musical scores, tv guide, geometry. And
documentaries. Notations, transcriptions, of things that are 'real.'
Transcriptions that claim to be somehow authentic. I loved studying music scores
at UCSD - new music, with such wild notational schemes - we followed along with
the music, but I would barely know when to turn the page.
4) When did you 'become' a poet when did poet become part of your everyday life?
They insisted on calling me a 'poet' when I went to Brown, in order to separate
you from 'playwrights' and 'fiction writers.' I guess it's better than being a
'fiction writer,' but I still feel funny calling myself a poet - would maybe
feel more comfortable with 'writer' - always on the brink of defecting, I guess.
But writing I can always stand by.
5) Where were you educated? Was this important?
I went to undergrad at UC San Diego and stumbled upon some wonderful people
there, including John Granger and Tom Raworth. I also found there an amazing
music department which was big on new music. San Diego also had a surprisingly
wonderful dance community, which I was glad to be a part of.
At Brown I met lots of wonderful people too, who have inspired me to do more
than write - like start a journal (Factorial Press would not have happened if
not for all the small press activity in Providence), and translate.
6) You were not always an academic how does this influence your work?
I am not an academic, though I have been in academia at times. The US must
be the only country that produces 'academic poets.
7) What is your...
favorite food?
Anything made by someone who loves me.
sports team?
Whatever team that will have me.
activity?
Hockey
vacation spot?
No idea. Haven't been to many places more than once.
curse word?
Fuck!
8) You sit as a bridge between American and Japanese poetry, how do you do
this and how is that balance achieved?
It is not balanced at all. I write exclusively in English, and now am
translating poetry from Japanese to English. In the states I know some poets,
but in Japan I know more dancers than poets.
Craft Questions
1) How do you form a poem?
Somewhat similar to catching and riding a train...I choose one (phrase, word,
thought, trigger, something) train, then somehow find a way to get on it (taking
notes, typing, trying hard not to forget it until I get to some recording
device), and then ride it for as long as it goes, or as long as I want to stay
on it, or until the end of the line, and then get off. I think that the train
network, the transport system, is always running, though not always documented.
And my poems are just records of those few moments when I actually ride it.
2) Is poetry an organic or synthetic process for you?
No.
3) Where do you write?
Where I happen to be. Often in bed. Often while walking. More writing happens in
more urban places. I traveled around the southwestern states and didn't write a
lick for the whole time. Statistically, the most writing per days lived: Paris,
Providence, Tokyo
4) Is Ambiance important?
It shouldn't have to be. I am trying to practice writing under adverse
conditions - standing in the rain with two large suitcases and a yapping
chihuahua.
5) Do you have rituals or habits when you write?
Again, trying to lose them. Not too many in the first place, though sometimes I
get too used to writing on the computer. The one that's hard to kick is that I
have trouble writing with music on, presumably because even as I write I am
secretly wishing I was writing music.
6) In the balance between found language and created language, where
does your work fall?
Middle.
7) Do you use many sources?
Everything is a source, probably.
Global Questions
1) What major projects are you working on now?
Translating Japanese poetry - Sagawa Chika is one of my favorites, an ignored
but brilliant Modernist. Also working on the new issue of Factorial, a Japan
feature of both translated and 'untranslatable' writing.
2) You recently won the Verse Prize, what is your secret?
Sleeping with the judge!
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