Shuntaro Tanikawa Poems

Mother,
Why is the river laughing?
Why, because the sun is tickling the river
...

One day somewhere
someone played the piano.
...

Human beings on this small orb
sleep, waken and work, and sometimes
wish for friends on Mars.
...

Plump and snug and feathery,
a ball of yarn
rolls gaily down the street
...

As of yesterday I am a squash
and no longer think at all.
I grow gradually fatter
...

Kachoo!
Ur-rufff
P-uuuuuu
Can't help having a body.
...

Filled with water
There's a jar
Eating of gruel begins
...

Dad's eating, staring striaght ahead,
looking at no one.
My younder brother tells him
...

Bathed by tree filtered sun,
my little girl rides a 'monkey train'
when she comes closer I feel happy
...

The person listening to Mozart curls up like a child,
his eyes following the curled wallpaper as if it were the blue sky,
just as though his invisible sweetheart were whispering in his ear.
...