Poetry Series: Toshiko Hirata,

Completing our poetry series is a love poem from the award-winning Japanese poet Toshiko Hirata, reading for us from Tokyo. Born in 1955, Hirata is a poet, novelist, essayist, and playwright. Her first book of poems, Shallots to Return a Favor, appeared in 1984. Later award-winning volumes include Terminal (Bansui Prize), Shi Nanoka (Hagiwara Sakutaro Prize), and The Freedom of the Joke (Murasaki Shikibu Prize). Her novels include Two on Board (Noma Prize ,best new literary artist) and Slope. She is a columnist and book reviewer for magazines and newspapers, and serves on the jury for the Yomiuri Newspaper’s “Children’s Poetry” column. She lives in Tokyo.