#anthony opal

The anthology includes poems and prose by Eileen Myles, Joshua Edwards, Lynn Xu, Mo Eldridge, and Zoe Kurland.

"I have my pen and I'm heading towards those nice purple mountains near Fort Davis and I'm thinking about Greece. Those two islands Fat and Far. Apollo had a foot on each. The whole shape of the earth all its cliffs and craters and even the sea have been explained to us in terms of giants. Big one-eyed people picking up boulders and throwing them. I'm glad Marfa is so chill and disorganized that whoever ordered us tied up is on some other mission entirely now. Nobody cares. That's why I love it here. But we grew up, I mean cultures did, I mean children did thinking of the world as like made and shaped by somebody huge. I'm ready. Even if I feel disastrously alone. Apollo stood on the two islands and he wanted to help the tiny men in a boat. They were lost and he needed to give them a sign. To show them the way. He threw a bolt of lightning at this island which basically lit up and said here it is. Anafi means pretty much that. By that time I had arrived at the most seductive and smoothest slope of this beautiful mountain range. I doubted I would make it to the tomato factory tonight but I began to draw."

(from "GIANTS IN MARFA," Eileen Myles)

Authors: Eileen Myles, Joshua Edwards,

Lynn Xu, Mo Eldridge, Zoe Kurland

Booklet, 48 pp, 7 x 5.25 in

Language: English

ISBN: 979-8-9991646-4-3

Released: September 15, 2025

Publisher: The Economy Press

Author: Matsuo Basho

Translator: Anthony Opal

Booklet, 12 pp, 7 x 5.25 in

Language: Japanese / English

ISBN: 978-1-7356630-5-0

Published: September 18, 2020

A poem in facing pairs about Tom Waits, absurd flowers through a window, half-opened, half-resurrected.

Purchase $10

Through the kitchen

moonlight

alone

POEMS OF TANEDA SANTOKA is a short and varied collection of Santoka’s haiku. Each translation is accompanied by the original Japanese text and English transliteration (romaji).

Available from The Economy Press

Widely known during his lifetime - more for his paintings than his poems - Buson’s notoriety and influence declined after his death only to be reestablished by Masaoka Shiki (1867-1902), who immersed himself in Buson’s haiku, understanding Buson’s work as a precursor to his own.

Shiki - the father of modernist haiku - saw Buson as perhaps the greatest of the old masters, writing that Basho has the “reputation as the incomparable haiku poet,” but Buson is “equal to, or even superior to Basho.”

Still, aspects of Buson’s work remain underappreciated and overlooked. Specifically highlighted in this collection are Buson’s warmth and dynamic portrayals of longing.

Poems of Yosa Buson is a short and varied collection of Buson’s haiku. Each translation is accompanied by the original Japanese text and English transliteration (romaji).

Available from The Economy Press.

Poems of Kobayashi Issa is a short and varied collection of Issa’s haiku. Each translation is accompanied by the original Japanese text and English transliteration (romaji).

Available from The Economy Press.

In A Taste of Issa, David G. Lanoue writes, “Issa is a poet who speaks to our common humanity in a way that is so honest, so contemporary, his verses might have been written this morning. Basho is the most revered of the haiku poets of Old Japan, but Issa is the most loved.”

Poems of Kobayashi Issa is a short and varied collection of Issa’s haiku. Each translation is accompanied by the original Japanese text and English transliteration (romaji).

Available from The Economy Press.

Available from The Economy Press