Go to: Selected Poems of Kitasono Katue or Glimpses of Avant Garde Japan

 


 

from
WHITE ALBUM (Shiro no arubamu), 1929
by Kitasono Katue

 


 

SUR UN PAROISSIEN

deranged in the century of ash-colored roses     hollow, paranoid cat

dream dynasty

crystal garden, gorgeous princess awakens suspended like a skylark

my universe is moon, mirror and clouds

hollow mermaid boisterous in sky

on lonely tree, lonely prayer

trembling of clouds

this storm contorting on mountain peak's tip
crushes depressed slaves               awakens immense dance of lakes

 


 

SEMIOTIC THEORY

*

white tableware
flower
spoon
spring, 3 p.m.
white
white
red

*

prism architecture
white animal
space

*

blue flag
apple and noblelady
white landscape

*

flowers and musical instruments
white window
wind

*

shell and wreath
slippered young girl
a portrait of a canary's ripening steamship

*

hothouse's boy
distant moon
white flower
white

*

cosmetics and fireworks
doll's blue window
white socks
esthetics
white esthetics

*

silver cubist doll
silver cubist doll
flower and mirror
statics

*

white architecture
far suburban sky
far

*

sky
sea
rooftop garden
cigarette smoking boy, decolorized boy
alone
space

*

magic-making noblelady's magic-making silver boy
magic-making noblelady's magic-making silver boy
reflected in red mirror
reflected in red mirror
white hands and eyebrows and flowers
I
space

*

blue sky
can't see anything
can't see anything
white residence

*

white distant view
faint pink flag
hopelessness

*

decolorized boy
distant sky
hyacinth
window
white landscape

*

it is happy lifestyle and me
it is happy ideas and me
it is transparent pleasures and me
it is transparent manners and me
it is fresh appetite and me
it is fresh love and me

memories of blue past
all dumped in ink bottle

*

mechanics is dark
plants are heavy

*

white tableware
bouquet and book of poems
white
white
yellow

*

white residence
white
pink noblelady
white distant view
blue sky

*

trumpet aristocrats all wear red bandannas

*

evening formalwear
evening formalwear
evening formalwear
evening formalwear
evening formalwear
boring

 


 

POÉSIE

billions of ladies with billions of tongues have billions of peacocks
billions of ladies with billions of peacocks are calm as billions of
                                                                                    peacocks
                  ABOVE THE SAND DUNE
                  THE MOON'S OPERA

 


 

DOLL, PISTOL AND BALLOON

SCENE 1

blue room
one small, square window
old woman sits in center chair
a sound
suddenly
one red balloon climbs skyward
old woman
laughs in deep, soft voice
it darkens
yellow flame burns outside the window
soon extinguishes a cornet cries out
magnesium shines
suddenly
an extremely human (phony) cat's meow

soon stops stillness
stillness
stillness
suddenly
sound of glass shattering

SCENE 2

white, triangular room
woman is hung upside down
boy comes crawling
suddenly cries
clings to woman
screams
"Maria, Maria"
one gunshot
rings out
crowd's intense footbeats
soon stops
room turns purple
boy shouts out
"nihilism"
it darkens
crowd's footbeats

flute magnesium shines
stillness
room brightens
two old women
bite hanging woman's head
sometimes glance at each other's face
expressionless, they laugh with shrill voices
hanging woman suddenly falls
old woman
screams out
in sharp, thin, long voice
it darkens center
blue flame burns
old woman laughs
"hihi hihihihihi"
blue flame extinguishes
magnesium shines
one gunshot rings out
stillness
stillness

 


 

SEPARATISTS

1

my imagination like the ocean
your imagination like the sky
your wreath like the moon
my wreath like the moon

2

melon ripening noblelady's melon
apple ripening noblelady's apple
blue fish reflected in mirror as blue fish
white flower reflected in mirror as white flower
purple dove reflected in mirror as purple dove

3

playing guitar in the hothouse
playing guitar in the hothouse

4

you are like a little bird
goodbye little bird
I'm already headed home

5

spiderish thing
lizardish thing

6

aquatic animal's aquatic movements
celestial animal's celestial movements
insect species
bird species
fish species

7

coffee shop gathers people, night spectacle of coffee feeding

8

theory of physics
theory of physics
theory of physics

9

because it's a blue ocean the ocean is blue
because it's blue grass the grass is blue
because it's a blue sky the sky is blue
spacious limitless one pane of stained glass and your red, tiny
Chinese shoes and heavenly white goose down couch and a small,
silver cross and crimson striped agate necklace and round
window with harbor view in white room looking at this - my
heart and my black pistol and summer ¾ resembling that
summer's sentimental romance or something, the white clouds
move on

10

dove's life stretches in wreath within wreath
dove's life stretches in wreath within wreath
wreath's wide wreath
wreath's wide wreath
enough of this -
wreath's head

 


 

DESSIN DU POÉTE

Opening a thick, oval window, a Latin round-body pronounces the following. Acts. Signals. It is said, "How could a self be rational which isn't even conscious of itself as emotional?" A movement to awaken people to that. A movement to make innocent friends perceive the degree that we love loss of innocence. It is said, "How could you who haven't even passed through anarchism become communists? And you who haven't even comprehended futility. A magical movement to stress that. It is said, "In a socialist world there is no room for sneers, scorn and deceptive logic." This is deceptive logic to sneer and scorn at not even understanding that. It is said, "A small bird." As for the saying, "Your limitless, orderly negativity doesn't even have an affirmative value," if one says, "How civilized?" it's the logic of you boarding a soap bubble and being able to fly outside the earth's orbit. Yet you are educated for an airship. For that overly physical airship you try to imagine even a soap bubble space expedition. Such an affirmatively affirmative you. You don't perceive that. Materialistic. Materialistic art. Noblelady where small birds live. Noblelady where fish live. Gavo . . . Gavo . . . Gavo . . . Gavo . . . pon pon pon . . . pan . . . pim . . . pum . . . Gattan . . . GovoGovoGovo? . . . I am lonely. Noblelady where fish and small birds live. The time you can say "Lonely, lonely" isn't lonely at all. The story of a boy on a dirigible balloon. A glass dish gathering tears. A bulb that doesn't breathe. Red curtain. Red. Mephistopheles with parasol today also displays a white heel through the window of a high-rise building. The view of an ocean that wants to smoke tobacco. Metaphysics without kangaroos. Brontasaurus. Sincerity, in moderation, speaks of lies. At least. That's what becomes of it. If truth is so necessary, let me teach you one inventive art. That is to search for the most stupid thing. But now. Could anything be the most stupid? Roses and books. Midair-falling-doll. The surface where pressure operates. The surface where pressure doesn't operate. The round-body Latin round-body completely quit his tactics of low-altitude flying. Then he closed the thick, oval window. Space stretched out infinitely. Insects within white gas probably sing acetylene tunes. He doesn't know. Probably no one gets to know. ______________________________________________ Armor bathhouse theory ______________________________________________ Cloud viewing _____________________________________________ Rigid cooking theory  


 

A REMARKABLE IDIOT

failed scholars failed monks failed artists parades and songs of failed humans dark universe dark dreams those dark features frenzied truth! I put up a prostitute's wide parasol and enshrine spring mermaids in a rose garden  


 

GHOST IN EYEGLASSES

holding a fragile, ceramic pipe, I gazed at an observatory
a shell's twisting is its peak
shells were also on top of electric towers
closing a conical window, I saw a long, narrow figure in a green book
a grey shell was also on that musician's forehead
I am gloomy

 


 

L'OMBRE

above bricks, an alienated parrot
above bricks, an alienated cloud
no moon, no sun a dancer's gloom

 


 

THÉATRE DE SALOMÉ

Salomé digests film like a dragonfly Salomé is a lovely daughter a daughter of Babylon Salomé, stand turning at the top of a hotel tower that sparkling hair blue hair that conical light circulating below green Babylon's moon one eyeless bird that's one eyeless bird where is Yokanan? he's cutting hair originally was a prophet but now wears a derby hat working in a bank  

THEORY OF THE UNIVERSE  

PLASTIC SURGERY OPERATION  

LEGEND OF THE AIRSHIP  

SKY FISH  


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