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Sawako Nakayasu-- yes--

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was born in Yokohama, Japan, and
has lived in the United States

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since she was six.

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She received her MFA
from Brown University.

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And she currently
teaches at Bard College.

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Her publications include Nothing
Fictional but the Accuracy

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or Arrangement (She, put
out by Quale Press in 2005.

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So We Have Been Given
Time Or, her 2004 book,

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put out by Verse.

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Balconic, an e-book
published by Duration Press.

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And, Clutch: Hockey
Love Letters, a chapbook

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published by Tin Fish in 2002--

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and multiple translations
both online, and in print.

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Nakayasu is an active
participant in a wide variety

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of creative endeavor.

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In addition to
publishing, she also

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co-edits Factorial,
a journal devoted

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to collaborative
writing and translations

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of contemporary Japanese poetry.

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Her work in other media
includes the Open Poetry Studio,

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a poetry installation
performance, plays, and movies.

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In her books, Nakayasu engages
the postmodern wariness

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of narrative and pushes
it to its' limit.

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Fragments that manage
to be poignant,

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humorous, and nuanced.

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Parts which
accumulate in the mind

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of the reader, who assembles
from them an emotional nucleus.

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She attempts to introduce
human experience

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into the incantatory structures
of language-based post-modern

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tradition.

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Creating a multitude
of meanings,

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and a sense of the familiar,
out of the stalled language

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by folding it in on itself.

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What comes across most
clearly is her love of play.

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This is actually the
thing that I ended up

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appreciating the most.

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Some poems appropriate
the format of playwriting,

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and then turn those theatrical
dialoguing conventions

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into definitions or commands.

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Some call attention
to their physicality.

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Interlocking pieces
staggered on opposing

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pages ready to slip together,
or create a commentary,

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on their mirroring
pages' white space.

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Finally, I want to
point out something

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that I hope will shed light on
her person, if not on her work.

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Of all the filthy words in this
world, her favorite is fuck.

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I'm happy to introduce
to you, Sawako Nayasaku.

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