Landscape and Other Poems

A field of yellow blossoms repeats until a skylark’s voice breaks through. Fish swim across a blue sky; an apple becomes a companion; children chase trains, talk to the wind, and learn the sounds of morning. Yamamura Bochō moves between gentle songs and startling visions with an attention that makes familiar things strange again.

Landscape and Other Poems brings together 27 supplied works, including the complete texts of Holy Prism and Clouds. The first explores a fractured world of silver, machinery, desire, faith, and the body. The second turns toward fields, family, illness, birds, and the difficult simplicity of daily life.

Alongside these collections are children’s verses, poems of labor and compassion, and an essay recounting a nighttime visit to the painter Ogawa Usen. The encounter opens into an argument about nature, symbolism, and what it means to live through art.