A major selection of the work of Japan's preeminent poet. Winner of every significant award for literature in Japan, Shuntaro Tanikawa is that country's foremost living poet. Selected Poems draws from eleven books written over forty years and is masterfully translated in close collaboration with the poet. It is the only major collection of Tanikawa's work available in English. Tanikawa writes a free verse filled with passion and curiosity. American readers will be struck by his fascination with their world and culture--Charlie Brown, John Coltrane, and Oscar Hammer-stein are among those with significant cameos. He also displays a strong poetic connection to his American contemporaries, the Beat and Black Mountain poets, especially Robert Creeley and Allen Ginsberg. In <I>Selected Poems</I>, readers are treated to an urbane feast of discovery, philosophy, and play.