For the Fighting Spirit of the Walnut

The radiant subway. The wall that clears up, endless. A thundering prayer of steel that fastens together the days, a brush of cloud hanging upon it, O beginning, it is there-your nest. Thus the keynotes of Hiraide's utterly original book-length poem unfold-a mix of narrative, autobiography, minute scientific observations, poetics, rhetorical experiments, hyper-realistic images, and playful linguistic subversions-all scored with the precision of a mathematical-musical structure.