Chronicle of Drifting

<p><b><i>Chronicle of Drifting</i> enacts a restless quest for belonging interweaving dreamlike imagery and Japanese lyricism</b><br></p>
<p>Yuki Tanaka's stunning debut <em>Chronicle of Drifting</em> explores rootlessness its beauty and perils. Tanaka’s restless imagination roams among places and personae-a village mermaid a geisha in the Midwest a flâneur 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.<br></p>