Mutsuo Takahashi Poems

Once, on some occasion, I said to Mr. Shigeo Washisu,2 'If the Ah's
and Oh's disappeared from your writings, they'd feel so much more
modern.' Well, here's what he said in reply: 'Ah, you're right. Oh,
that's true, you're right.' Two years since he descended into the
Underworld and, stripped of his temporary personality known as
Shigeo Washisu, joined the common herd of the dead, I wanted to
call to him using Ah's and Oh's abundantly. Ah, Oh, true enough, I
wanted to call to him.
...

that dove gives it up, he asked
he puts out, I answered
OO what's he into, he inquired further
...

The island, draped in golden clouds,
does not exist anywhere on the chart.
...

There is no one who has seen the book.
Yet there is no one who doubts its existence.
It sleeps in the depths of the distant clouds dark before dawn.
...