z

u RYOKO SEKIGUCHI

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TRANSLATED FROM THE FRENCH BY

STACY DORIS
Tracing
 2003. ryoko sekiguchi
translat1on 2003. stacy dons

1his publication was made possible

by the Cultural Services of the
French Embassy in the United States.
 Ryoko Sekiguchi

Tracing

translated from the Frenc h by Stacy Doris

Tracing
The expected meeting in the singular sud-
denly becomes numerous. In the strict sense
of the word, it functions for us exclusively
as an indicaror, Siren in the plural. What's
left in this text is the only incarnation of
poetry, in other words fragments, with a
gift for omnipresence and twisting; the slen-
der hands each designate, as a caprice, the
places of destination. And oh, don't fo rget,
we're talking with this voice.
"He who sees with one eye cannot puc the cap on the pen"
<left eye/
< right eye/>
Leave right away. This idea had already brought m e to the market entry,
whose straw-covered roof-arcades spanned alleys and sheltered us. Because
it's summer, I step a little quicker, the contours of objects that make these
scorching days stand out will be signposts for our meeting. Silver trays, blue
slippers, grapes (how deep in the pulp will light penetrate?), in place of what
marks the seconds, pronouncing this way, my steps, sure, distance in turn the
places of an instant before. Rip open and spread out the slcin of the scene like
lighrning, eyes meeting trace an arc unveil this act. Dust, little spirals rising
at the feet of passers-by, 1, who can distinguish each and every color of these
corpuscles, don't know my own destination, turn at the corner, nearl y smash
my hand against the dirt wall. Because drops on the wall brought me back,
the last time we saw each other, to the remote cove of rhe town I had visited
a thi ck shadow (me, stumbled), I couldn't walk very fast maybe because of
that and remembering it l don't notice I'm going down . More and more, the
sight of my steps en larges because of the sloping, which also accelerates the
speed, I 'm seized with vertigo, photos taken, superimposed , thousands and
thousands {how pathetic the sight), pushing, this sparks the force of attractio n,
lazy-eyed, she comes charging down {not knowing she inhabits the same
organ). Flash of the metallic lance, armor- meshed shadows, in the confusion
ruled by phosphenes, all the same, the last step of the ri ght foot continues irs
thrust, the meeting's ai r grazes a shoulder. In that instant, about to take a
step, someo ne (fo r example th is figure) could have stopped, as I understood
it, just after the eyes wanting to see covered the sight but also the elusive
distance, no holding it back anymore.
>
l vaguely remember having made a promise. Thinking about it, 1 was at the
begi nning of a place where daylight filtered here and there (fresh, but rad iating
like stripes) that the people call "market. " Perspire/evaporate (since I am so
far from the water stone), l welcome the slowed repetition on my body, a
sligh t astringency accompanies this joy. Maybe a sign ofsomething; encouraged
by that impression, I prolong my steps wi th a fine obliquity. Touch, and
fragile sight which leave this flesh aja r to the outside (lodge myself in the
grape's pulp?) sustain a life. Go on, this neighborhood I know from childhood,
tho ugh the names of the streets themselves don't come back to me, my steps
become fetters and, vacillating, turn to a path that isn't straight. Inside, I
traced an uncertain figure from memory or imaginatio n, Aunering image, in
the depths of a room full of setting sun , I receive in my palm the sharp droplets
of a visit that still smells of water, troubling rimes, the slope doesn't bother
me. The tips of the toes that dig in deeper and deeper, in this sensation, l was
still trying to conjecture another name to give the incident (should it be
called covering?), the lin k between absolu te slowness and vision. Accelerate/
impossible, a wrong move due to the size of the angle's difference, [ take in
despite mysel f, intense eyes (somehow I await them) seeking their match. In
the same instant, the shock of seeing my feet launch into my field of vision,
colors high from the srarc, this proliferation more poison than beings, suffering
which renders the clarity of contours, made me lose my balance, I stopped
suddenl y; I couldn't keep from shutting my eyes, because of a figure crossing,
like the course of a blade. We crossed, and perceiving that, J reopened my
eyes; light once agai n gently bathed the contours and ir was too late. When
will we meet again ?
The Flying Puzzle

the wo rds that sprour in warm air raised in a single

In July, what's hid in a house? To o bserve/still cultivate
srroke, various objects are hidden in the house.

tn to listening for what's inaud ible. The e mpty

11 + 12, lO, The poswre of being al l ea rs, giving
parts in the
9, 7 (d + 1),
middle come
11 +12+8+
4 ) and go success-
13,4, 1+ 2+
1 2 ively I th o ugh
3 + 5, 6 + 7,
they don't flee.
11 + 12+8+
Th e fil ling in
13 + 4, 3, 1 +
n ever en d s,
2 + 5, 7 (r + 3
which fails to
u), I I + 2 ~ 9,
cove r them
10, I + 8 +
with a white
13, 6 + 7, II
7
8 sheet, eve n a
-t 12+9+ 10, 6
th in vo ice ca n't
1 + 8 + I 3, 6
do ir, luckily fo r
+7,11+ 12+
12 13 me. Galloping,
9 + 10, 13, 8
9 11 light, innum er-
+ I , 7 (d + 1),
a ble p ages on
2 + 5, 3, 4 +
irs back, and I
1, 7 + 6, 2 + 5 14
10 e ntru st m y re-
+ 3, 4, l, 7 (r
sponse LO one
+ u), 8, 14, I
of rhese lines,
"d(d own), u
a nd the n -
(up), 1 (left),
r (right)
cross a call of air.
The Gol ia rds' songs

exists only to visual ize ste ri le words/ sound nonexistent/

H ave we guessed what is hidd en in the house? If sight
arc we hoping to get from having cultivated wo rds th is
the various hard to find objects arc scattered h ere. (Whar
next year, the wo rds of this year pile up in sile nce and
way?) (Where do words go when they're grown ?) For
is hidden in a house, I gave a response that I won't repeat.
wait a nd slowly sprout. ln July, to the question of what
Dentists' Reformatio nal Era
1. Look from Behind

.__________JL_______.JI L . . - - - 1-
--~_____JID
Se veral pl ans drawn in a re-
formational era. While the co n-
text may have been chopped
up by roo much hunting, it seems
tha t some of these plans still
ex ist, p erp lexly, an d teach us
many things.

I. Words and Water
Time and aga in , h e turns back
towards the place, a nx ious. Just
note that it doesn't oppose but
simply bears the marks of those
from outside.
The rule was created by
"this pronoun ," it's 'T ' The molding and familiar
who a pproach it as I
duck path comes highly
wish . recommended.
Shift the rhumb from rhe place
of the correct pronw1ciarion of
g, now T'm in a strange land, and
like he who draws water, I speak
this language as if it were a
habit. This forbidden act, if only
I had a language to reverse the
authenticity.
Hi s ability to put the knife
exactly wh e re it belongs also
applies to the presc ription of
medicine. Fascinated by this
gesture, I decided to beco me a
docto r in ord e r ro im irate it.
1 figured it out: the e ra whe n
"to have a temperature" was
an automatic syn o nym of
vicrory being so co mpletely
over, s u c h a revo luti on
res ulted .
(The ene rgy ro nor make up stories.)
"The lack of firmness in your Our readin g aloud, once pri vate,
pronunciation of b leads to now gains centripetal fo rce, the
The o ne who shows off
various breach es in prude n ce. river bank hesitates, between the
his capacity for dialogue
ropography of lines an d bodies
You should be aware of this." (so proudly!), why does
made by the traces of herbs.
h e stand th ere, with
n othing to d o?
"u, ro converge on a point. "
"Beyo nd the water, the place where
the body doesn't exist, you should
Even if you want to con- test it, swear to deny
treat as the center. n." Chickadee hops.
yo urself until your lips know the so und p."
Like a jo yo u s
(T he little signs of ball game.
Dragged by t h e breathing, what did
a rrow o f the t hey save?)
affirma tio n (we.
T o
.. ... ... ) our " It's possible," I aJmost said.
hav e a
li t tl e h ead .
beau- In the text we can read n ot
Punishme nt play
t i f u l b lind resistance but total
when there's no
v o 1 c e, confusion. People whose voices
way left to move
y 0 u and feet are not d irectly related
the pieces.
sho uld cannot even imagine what the
n o t who le wo rl d h as noticed, a
be n d "p erso n walk ing for the first
y o u r time in his life."
knee s to prono unce m.
"Close your mo uth
the way
yo u do. "
(N ever perfect, as precio us as
(S he neve r used to say U"") almost fantastical. )
Eve r yo n e wants to
acquire it. Are t h ose
w h ose VISIO I1 IS
Sometimes I want to leave dars. insufficient a lso T he d ista nt d entist has the right ro remaJ n
Nor knowing how to read the word requ ired ro follow this sile n t. T he inc urable principle in his hand,
Lesson, I decide ro cal l it as it is. itinerary? following d1e drill, he t hinks only of slapping
t he conversation rha r jumps hopping out.
 '
~
J
Of the secret of Word of Silence, even
except in deviations. Our real words.
words that don't live in voices that
they were nor subject to any kind of
uansmined. By eyes. Moving along
extend. Never touching a lip, nor
their clarity. Absorbing o nly rhe
that bind us, never reduced to those
shapes appea r clear cur. The words
meaning shines on one of those
ody, remaining words always, these
them; bur impossible to rell them in
maybe with numbers, which resemble
Word of Silence.
.,
J
rhe mother tongue won't let us speak
The words never spoken are here. The
so und in the air are here. Read as if
pronunciation whatsoever, silen rl y
rhe rope of sight, rhcy can infinitely
traversing a body, rhe words authorize
pupils' light. By eyes. The real words
so unds; we sec them disrincdy, their
rhar glow in rhe half light, whose
brilliam days, neither timbre nor mel -
wo rds are here. lnrenrion to divulge
a language that re li cs on voices;
them a linle, though unpronounceable,
We easily eire a thousan d exam-
pies of what can exist o nly as an
im agi nary object. Around thi s
ground , rhere were diverse te n-
tative pronunciations. Fearherlers
jump ed from rh e be nt bru sh
every time; the junk marker goes
on. Mark of the already seen. T he
supposition is always one-way, so
that a longsid e the few paved
routes, crafty rurns prolifer ate,
hiding themselves behind if, and
calling to us over the shoulde r.
CirwmforentiaL style. Neither to
adopt a single vector, nor rake a
structure (enclose rhe bla nk and
converg e again. ) Just to admit
that a position roo blurry ro sit-
uare on the map remaine d un-
named. Clea ring that exposes
scraps of dellniti ons to rhe air
shards of time. Never to become
a descript ion, but to be attached
ro the edge and stay in a conri-
guous place, that was the choice.
What happens the day after the
lapsus calami.
Spiral Bet An understood fact. (For example) a being that inhabits the mt'tamorphosis zone, seeing in rhe abbey the ghostly dis- Di sta n ce
ranee that slips in between the two sides of the door, can't keep from roing and froing all around and rryi ng to unstirch of th e
it. If it's nice out today, maybe I' ll take the role of the inhab itant of this zo ne. mountain
c h a i n
T he phenomenon of the apparition of layers i n a room occurs once hear infiltrates in excess. As we go The e m - doesn't lie,
on running o ur hands over these fine hung layers that surround us, they may detach from the ro und b r a c e we ca n
lines of the relic( With our topograph ical map rhar serves. frig h tens walk until
off. So noon, bur
T h at's What were your stakes? I responded. ............ ...... Knowing it held " [ say: m e does the th e o ne
e n o u gh lim its, what were you co unting on, then? O n the beating of birds' neither, ghost of
. . . two steps
tmJtattng wings. Knowing that birds belong to words, w hat were you hiding? yo ur face rhe e m - ahead of
the ar- l answer. d i d n ' t brace, he us hi des
c h a i c appear 1n te ll s us.
N o w , From now The d ay the wi nd blew hard, I learn- t h e lie as
so ng s, my pupils. Spoken in
having on, not to ed that the fa ntasy of the closed hear- mu c h as
w h at's I say: me a partic-
ar rived at go some- tng was so light (look, it's Aown off). the size of
more, the neither, all ular place,
the sweet where, but The scraps turn ed back beco ming his steps.
s c a r f ] saw there latent dis-
distance of to go water, cas- ily skipped over the spiral We try to
scarce l y w e r e ran ee 1n
seeing a nd wherever. and fused, sp reading in a path that held step o n his
shaken, he d azz lin g the pass-
feeling the In the no hope for geometry. From now on, . . s h adow;
s lams rhe fea th e r s, lYe VO I CC,
fur's gende thrill of o nl y t hat is worth rransmirring. his faked
door in my w 1 n g s we go a-
trembling tangling , arrempr to
face. T h e crossmg on gatn be-
and the in crossed reach rhe
voice tha t a n. ver. " low one of
e y e s footsteps, cab in al-
rc p ears, them and ready;
moistness, the bet's
that sings, swi rl , we th en we
we still can't r es ult
s tretc hin g c o u I d
sniff what it co uld be will be rhe
e ndl essly s udd enly s peed of
is. The five hidd e n . Nor that we had guessed; we had already come to the
on, this call emerge the race it-
sen ses a re And then. last wo rds of the spiral, still, we promised ourselves to
leads only from rhe self, mess
f u I I y bet, at least once, towards a place.
to a duerro back door. up th e
perturbed
wirh herbs "The figure that gets closer wh ile turning away; thal's reflected finely on the basin. rhythm of
w h i I e
(if o nly he Prediction announced in the fal ling of the first drop: it is not enough to open the door. his steps.
functioning
sa ng: a What would hap p en after rhis door is writte n only o n wings to come, ten billion years
normally.
Little breeze until these wi ngs."
rises). " He speaks not as a connoisseur, but as one who nibbles o n al l the words and adores them, sometimes he pours a pinch or
murmu rs. A day's rest. Th is serves not to pur the ac.t into perspective, but rarher ro encourage it. Wirhour pointing o ut
rh e dista nce, it is contained withi n the structure (itsel f ) ofrhis one time. "
The appliance
object's linea- that describes an
ul a r reflection s mcms with irreg-
ernate angles. To and repeating air-
Jec tJng them keep from pro-
trace of words, back, so that no
of contacts, no no slim shadow
mains, each side least scrap rc-
periodically pol- of its surface is
and maintained. ished with care
How to replaces the contents of a merc ury recipient with water
a) Noviciat in the garden, and etcetera
Everything, if it is about language/ the
sharing/ the indivisible also/ the caJm and
co llected tone of voice, at least in the
measure of units, shows no sign of lying.
Gravity! which rivals/ should not be wrong/
and the construction / nor the conviction/
if not, perpetuity/ the voice that would go
on, seemed to branc h into another text,
suddenly hung up.
To shyly tilt your neck towards the one
next to you , try to get a word out of
him: "Why can you say that you know
what you don't know, where does that
come from ?" Once directly posed, the
question will never have been posed in
the opposite way.
(Th e right eye ca ught a
busy figure going to rake
there for entry, slip in,
and hurriedly open the
text. While we don 't
deny it.)
They cl1ink th at resistance co the sound e's
attraction is oriented not only towards the
exterior but reflects back on the object itselF,
without exce ption. In order w a nswer
perfectly to the demands indispensabl e ro
this phenomeno n, a bu reau is at our
disposition , as is ro be expected; barely
midway up the hill, so much waiting
discourages me.
The n ature of glass; give in to
happiness to the temptation of a
perfectly arbitrary liquefaction, and
become yourself subject to change
and trans formation. This was
probably already long since in
app li ca tion, to the point of
co mposing an axial symmetry in
irs reciprocaJ and uninte rrupted
reflection.
What is
" Gleam in rhe
(someti mes nee-
th e afternoon.
timbres, they in-
curvtng to scru-
or as if incessant-
watered , with
He will in no way co ns id e r
separating the preference. By the
same rokcn, we all know the system
surrounded by several tongues. I n
s uch a case, by c hoosing a
pron unciation that raises the t. ro a
mild warmth of3 C above normal,
we should be ab le to get the
authorizatio n to go fanher than we
imagine.
Lend an ear ro the bubbles made by
consona n ces. Wirh just a pinch of
grace, can we reproduce rhe joyous
boiling? AI> in reality, it was nowhere
necessary ro act, berween weight and
lightn ess, with the c ontrapunta l
persuasion of the one who called one
day, intimately, from the livingroom,
and the other who brought the
indicative of the following week.
a recipient?
mornmg, stream
tar) that drips in
With their varied
cessan tly ca m e,
rinize the inside,
ly trying, they
uilling wings. "
As already mentioned, we saw in the
liquid some inte ntion to evapo ra te
towa rds a place that turned irs back on
us horizonrally, it held the majority of
rhe liquid, however, a few visual drops
still remained within. Then what was
this phenomenon called ?
Recognizing what is lost, pretending
resignation/ not by decision/ but rather/
in knowing/ that / in being/ named
from behind/ the figure standing silent
by the window appears. So close to the
line of demarcation , we thought ir was
the voice of a bi rd inside.
By the way, a garden of plants
proud of its unequall ed
meticulousn ess. Shares a taste
for showers, srill, along what
lin es did the expression
"meticulous grasses" co m e ro
light?
We met in a park where nothing was
flat, where a series of slopes made soft
rolling hills. Even through the dazzling
days, Aowing underfoot like a tribute,
only the watery district can procure the
fruit seller's words, holding each object
just once in he r hand.
It isn't so unusual for a differe nt
species ro intervene in our territory
and precipitate the fe rmenta tion;
that was made clear from the sta rt.
Theone who, behind the door, was
deciding to assure himself of our
rel ation , to take on our shape even
for a limited rim e, s rrain ed to
liste n.
3. Why things turned this way

Something seen at I :00 The o ne that sho uldn't

for the fir s t rtme . have been in the sa me
Otherwise, I would never place of sur veying
have imagi ned myself to appeared without m e
have a countenance. knowing, had the nerve to
ask for the com pariso n.
.. . 1 remember. Each time I sa t o n t he
caned chair facing it, the recipient brought
up the ropi c : " You should know, I only
wanted to have a m e- dium able to gather
several refl ections." Not to give it al l a-
way, we were speak- ing of a situa tion
w here the liquid a- round the word
attachment cou ld sometimes influence
this sort of recipient.

The place M exists doubly. (The li g ht of ea rl y

The co mmon p o in t of afte rnoon. I would like ro
th ese landscapes which kn ow which of the two
don't brush, even after a co uld let it through.)
week of wa lking, wby are
you looking for it?
What letter did ir begin
with, what pro nun ciatio n
did it begin wi th ? ln the
more ofte n forgo t the days w hen we mo re and
wo rn, still pracli ced rite,
witho ut a mo ment's war-
ning we were surro und -
ed by a green ery o f ten-
uous mo rifs. Perha ps ir
was a comp letely flat sur-
face, p oss ibl e pl ace to
recei ve any name whats o-
like ocean foam , some - ever, letting alpha bets Aow
huma n - born e w h ere bare ly remo ved
from
pron un ciat ions, on rh e
unde rsides of kn otgra ss
and a bsi nth e a rte m isa
leaves , giving rise to new
s pec ies of be ings, t he
same ( t! 1., ...J, and ..r
tremb ling with the small -
es t breat h of a ir. Nor
only in namin g, but dis-
c rerely, alread y aside from
texts wi th m ea nin gs,
leavin g behin d all wrirre n
pi eces abo ut chis field,
descr iption s of displa ce-
m e nrs and m emo r ies
trans forme d into word s,
beco me a co mpl e te ly
separ ate body, a simpl e,
stand ing silhou ette, that
was what I was seein g
from inside, finally I knew
rhat.
Tracing was published in August 2003 in an
edition of 250 copies.

duration press
Jerrold Shiroma, editor
http:/ /www.duratio npress.com
 duration press
http:/ /www.durationpress .com