The Tsurezuregusa is a collection of wise, witty, compassionate
and, occasionally, cranky ruminations on the business of living by
the monk, Kenko (c1283-c1350). The poems in What the Sky Arranges
speak in a voice and tell of things derived from Kenko: reading,
travel, good and bad taste, exile, art, art bores, technophobia,
scandal, sex, gardening, game theory, graveyards, friendship,
death, the moon . . . "Tender, philosophical, disabused, these
poems are a putting in order of 'the business of life'. Worked from
The Tsurezuregusa of Kenko they are wide-awake, alert, moving from
joy to disgruntlement, from bleak advice to quiet celebration: the
kind of poetry that gets written in the early hours of the morning
when the poet remembers the dates on gravestones. The poetry is in
the detail, the things that are all too easy to miss (maple leaves,
wisteria, 'morning glories on a low fence, / not too high, and not
too many', the waxing and waning moon, 'what the sky arranges'),
and equally in the subtle music of Andrew Fitzsimons' language."
(Peter Sirr) "A truly wonderful sequence of poems, combining a
lightness of touch with great depth and resonance, and one to be
enjoyed in the words of the work itself 'under the lamp alone / a
book spread out before you: bliss'. Absolute bliss, indeed." (David
Peace) "These poems are really stunning: shafts of truth,
beautifully crafted. The way they link Eastern and Western
traditions of precision and eloquence is magical." (Bernard
O'Donoghue) "Gently witty, wise, finely phrased variations on
Kenko's themes. A pleasure to read and reflect on." (Royall Tyler)
The thirty poems are complemented by nine striking drawings by the
well-known Italian artist, photographer and designer, Sergio Maria
Calatroni, now resident in Tokyo.
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