Chronicle of Drifting

Yuki Tanaka's stunning debut, Chronicle of Drifting, moves with tenderness between isolation and connection, between the physical body and the act of wandering.

Yuki Tanaka's stunning debut, Chronicle of Drifting, moves between isolation and connection, between the physical body and the act of wandering--through place, through image and language. This collection explores what creates distance between people--war, grief, isolation, the loss of family and home--while reaching toward human connection. A boy sips sake from the kneecap of his grandfather. An aunt gathers rain in a pail to wash the bodies of her nephews. A man wanders Tokyo during the pandemic and sits for his first haircut in six months. Inspired by the Japanese tradition of tanka and haiku, as well as Western surrealism, these poems, ranging from lyric to prose, are beautifully sharp & poignant. In their stillness, readers become "a stagnant pool of water reflecting a face," drifting toward revelation.