Rock at the Roadside

Poet and artist Saeko Ogi's latest collection, Rock by the Roadside, features an array of Japanese poems in translation, with the assistance of Amelia Fielden, and travels from her life in Japan to her more recent experiences in Australia. There is peace to be found in gardens and many tanka dotted throughout this collection illustrate how Saeko-who is living on the banks of a lake-is inspired by her environment.

When we read tanka like this:

folding a triangle

and then making another

origami fold-

that's what it's like now

with my brother's widow

we intuit that Saeko Ogi, is a compassionate poet who has dovetailed multiple layers of sorrow and joy into her long life, and settle in to devour page after page of her tanka.