【写すならニセモノよりも愛Phoneで】The Review of “Black Calculus by Norm Mattox”（日英対訳）

The Review of “Black Calculus by Norm Mattox”

One extraordinary mathematician found the answer to his question: Love.
"Black Calculus"-Silence, Sun, Same Horizon                                                                                                                                      
                                                                                         byPOETAQ

　I am Japanese. It's been almost a year since I started reading at the Nuyorican Poets Cafe Online Open Mic last May. If I hadn't joined this OM, I would have stayed in Japan without guns and would have been absorbed in "word games." In other words, I would have remained a dreaming poet, escaping from the " severe reality."

　However, after joining Nuyorican, I realized that all the poets in Nuryorican are "fighting poets" who stand up against the harsh society. Their expressions are naturally aggressive, showing a " dichotomy." Norm's reading, however, was full of "great compassion" that overcomes and embraces such conflicts while fully depicting them. His new work, "Black Calculus," is a masterpiece that can be said to be the very fruit of his efforts and love.

　The title work, "Black Calculus," is a series of ten poems--a title typical of a former math teacher. However, as the main title "NEGROGEBRA" indicates, it painfully depicts the reality of racism and the heartache of the poet who has endured it. We, Japanese living in Japan, are in immeasurable agony. In Japan, hate speech against minorities such as Koreans, Chinese, and Southeast Asians living in Japan is widespread. It is unbearable to hear. And yet, they have a sneering attitude toward Westerners. I hate that mentality and am ashamed of it.

　In "AT THE BEACH," the poet remembers his late father. Waves, wind, sky, air. I feel "everyday's happy birthday" because he is speaking with his soul. "Spirit sees with vision beyond distance and time."(from "SWEET TEARS BLOOD") This is an act that can only be achieved through meditation - silence. 

 "My feelings come from a wordless place" (from "WHAT YOU SAW"). With mobile phones in our hands, we see, hear, and post words every day, but the world is a " noisy " place far from silence, a cesspool of lies and vanity. We should take a lesson from NORM and talk more with rivers, lakes, and oceans - the "mother sea" - instead of our cell phones. Otherwise, all we will see is a fake horizon.

　I was most impressed by "THE SAME HORIZON".

　it is one brilliant Sun 

   we watch melting

   into a red pool,

   pouring out of the sky

   into the same horizon.

  The poet must have actually been watching this ordinary but spectacular Sun. And this Sun, he has an intuition that it is actually "love."

"never taking

  for the sake of taking

  always giving

  forgiving. "(from "LOVE HAPPENS")

  This is just a miracle. Who can "forgive"? It's not easy to erase personal (or collective) resentment. I have often encountered situations in which poets use verses to express their rage. However, the poet Norm came to "love" from his long experience as an educator. It is not easier said than done.

　But instead of complaining on the Internet, he has gone to the shore to talk with the souls of his ancestors and sublimated them into poetry. That is why his words are as warm as the Sun, not the coldness of a sharp sword. The truth that he had long sought through mathematics was found in nature. I am grateful to Norm for bringing the benefits of his discovery to us young, quarrelsome,monophobic guys.

　We should go to the beach (Mother Sea) more often to watch the Sun fall on the horizon as if shooting it with our naked eyes, not iPhones.

(“Black Calculus” by Norm Mattox: NOMADIC PRESS)

***********************************************************************************

ひとりの非凡な数学者が行き着いた答えは「愛」だった。

“Black Calcuus by Norm Mattox”—Silence,Sun,Same Horizon

　私は日本人である。昨年の５月からNuyorican Poets Cafe Online Open Micで朗読を始めてもうすぐ１年になる。

もし、このOMに参加しなかったら、私は銃のない日本にいて「言葉遊び」に熱中していたことだろう。つまり、「厳しい現実」から逃れるような夢想詩人でとどまっていただろう、ということだ。

　しかし、Nuyoricanに参加して痛感したことは、NuryoricanのPoetsがみんな、厳しい社会と立ち向かう「闘う詩人」である、ということだった。その表現は自ずと「二局対立」を示す攻撃的なものになる。が、Normの朗読は、そうした対立を充分に描きながらも、それを克服し、包み込む「大いなる慈悲」が充溢していた。新作『Black Calculus』は、まさにその結実と言える珠玉の一冊である。

　表題作「Black Calculus」は１０の詩からなる連作ーー元数学の教師らしいタイトルである。しかし、本題の「NEGROGEBRA」が示すように、人種差別の現実と、それに耐え抜いてきた詩人の心痛が痛々しいほど描かれている。我々、日本在住の日本人には計り知れぬ苦悩である。日本でも、在日韓国人や中国人、東南アジア人などのマイノリティーに対する差別は存在する。それは聞くに耐えぬものだ。そのくせ、欧米人には卑屈なところがある。私はそんなメンタリティーが嫌いである。

　“AT THE BEACH”で詩人は亡き父を偲ぶ。波、風、空、空気。。。”everyday’s happy birthday”と感じるのは、彼が魂で会話しているからだ。”Spirit sees with vision beyond distance and time.”(from “SWEET TEARS BLOOD”)　これは、「meditation」ーー「沈黙」からしか成し得ない行為だ。”my feelings come from a wordless place”（from “WHAT YOU SAW”)とも語っている。モバイルを手にした我々は、確かに毎日、言葉を見聞きし、投稿するが、その世界は「沈黙」から大きく離れた「喧騒」であり、嘘と虚栄の掃き溜めだ。我々はNORMを見習って、スマホの代わりにもっと川や湖や海ーー「母なる海」と対話すべきだ。でなければ、水平線は拝めない。

　私が最も感銘を受けたのが、その”THE SAME HORIZON”である。

　it is one brilliant sun 

   we watch melting

   Into a red pool,

   pouring out of the sky

   into the same horizon.

  詩人は実際にこの平凡ながらも絶景の太陽を眺めていたに違いない。そして、この太陽は、実は「愛」だ、と直観している。

”never taking

  for the sake of taking

  always giving

  forgiving. “(from”LOVE HAPPENS)

  これは奇跡としか言えない。「許す」ことが一体、誰に可能なのだ。個人的（集団的）恨みを消すことなど容易ではない。ルサンチマンを詩に託して激しく訴える場面に私はしばしば遭遇する。しかし、NORMという詩人は、長年の教育者の経験から「愛」に至った。それは口で言うほど簡単ではない。

　しかし、彼はインターネットに愚痴をこぼす代わりに、海岸に出て祖先たちの魂と対話しながら、それらを詩に昇華させてきたのだ。だから、彼の言葉の数々は、鋭い剣の冷たさではなく、太陽の如く温かい。彼が数学を通して長年求めてきた真理は、自然の中にあったのだ。その発見の恩恵を、有難いことに喧嘩っ早い我々若輩者へ届けてくれた。NORMに感謝である。

　我々はもっと海（母なる海）で水平線に落ちる太陽を拝むべきだ。スマホのレンズではなく、我々の肉眼にそれを撮影するかのように。

　写すならニセモノよりも愛Phoneで