Japanese Mennonite poet Yorifumi YaguchiJapanese Mennonite poet Yorifumi Yaguchi will offer his words of poetry about beauty and pain of life at Eastern Mennonite University.
He will read from the recently published book, "The Poetry of Yorifumi Yaguchi: A Japanese Voice in English" (July 2006, Good Books), as well as other works, at 7:30 p.m. Thursday, Nov. 2, in Martin Chapel of the seminary building at EMU.
The new book features 150 poems by Yaguchi, who studied at Goshen (Ind.) Biblical Seminary from 1962 to 1965 to earn a bachelor of divinity degree. The collection of poems spans Yaguchi’s life, from a childhood shaped by World War II to a career as a poetry professor, editor, Mennonite Christian pastor and internationally-recognized Japanese poet.
Yaguchi is best known in the West for his 30 poems in "Three Mennonite Poets" (Good Books, 1986), but his published work in English includes nearly 300 poems in five volumes. His poetry bears witness to the evils of militarism from Shinto nationalism to Hiroshima and then extends to Vietnam and the aftermath of September 11, 2001.
Copies of the poet’s new book will be on sale at the reading.
Admission to this special "Writers Read" program, sponsored by EMU’s language and literature department, is free.