Spencer Thurlow is the current Poet Laureate of West Tisbury, Massachusetts. His poetry or translations have appeared in Modern Poetry in Translation, World Literature Today, Cincinnati Review, Comstock Review, Worcester Review, and others. He is co-translator of Sonic Peace, by Kiriu Minashita.
Photo: Andre Benz / Unsplash
IN REAL LIFE, TOSHIKO HIRATA (b. 1955) is a uniquely kind, warm, and outgoing person, famous for her sense of humor as one of Japan’s best-known living a…