Photo/Illutration Akiko Baba in Tokyo on March 7 (Asahi Shimbun file photo)

I wonder how many poems have now been dedicated to Akiko Baba, a poetry critic in The Asahi Shimbun’s Asahi Kadan tanka section.

As recently as April 27, another poem bearing her name appeared in the newspaper: “March 30 Kadan tanka section/ I carefully cut out the clipping/ Never again will I see ‘Selections by Akiko Baba’” (Yoko Sonobe).

Until the end of last month, Baba served as a tanka selector for 47 years. Following the announcement of her retirement, a steady stream of poems poured in, expressing sorrow at her departure.

She became one of the selectors in 1978.

Reflecting at a retirement commemorative event, she recalled, “Back then, when summer came, poems about the war would flood in.”

Earthquakes, precarious nonregular employment, the COVID-19 pandemic. Tracing the poems she selected is to trace the history of the nation over the past half-century.

Yet she was critical of poems that merely echoed the news.

At selection meetings, she would swiftly scan all 5,000 or so submissions, instantly discerning their quality and flipping through the postcards with brisk, sharp movements.

“Picking up a postcard/ Baba-san says, ‘This one’s no good, you know’/ Could it be mine?” (Shu Sugaya).

She always displayed a profound sensitivity to emotional nuance, while maintaining a polished and refreshingly natural style.

When asked at the event what kind of mindset was important for composing good poetry, she replied: “You know, maybe it’s better not to have one. Trying to get better, or trying to dress up your work—you should avoid that.”

It could be a breeze stirring the air, the chirping of birds or even a cockroach in the kitchen. It didn’t matter.

“Find something in the mundane moments of everyday life that no one else has noticed,” she said.

If you quietly tuck it away in a little box inside your heart, one day it will turn into the seed of a poem, according to the master of poetic appraisal.

“It was Akiko Baba/ Who taught me/ ‘We compose poems/ when the heart longs to step outside’” (Yoshiko Seguchi)

Baba is now 97 years old.

“The poems I compose/ And the poems I read/ Over a lifetime/ Gardenia flowers seem to bloom/ Alongside these memories” (Akiko Baba)

The sight of her leaving the event venue to a round of applause, her back straight and proud, left an enduring impression of unwavering, graceful beauty.

—The Asahi Shimbun, April 28

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Vox Populi, Vox Dei is a popular daily column that takes up a wide range of topics, including culture, arts and social trends and developments. Written by veteran Asahi Shimbun writers, the column provides useful perspectives on and insights into contemporary Japan and its culture.

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