Many thanks to SWLing Post contributor and noted political cartoonist Carlos Latuff, who shares the following illustrated radio listening report.

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Carlos notes:

Shortwave radio never ceases to surprise me. While in Porto Alegre, I was listening to a broadcast aimed at Japan by the Australian radio station “Reach Beyond Australia” when I discovered the work of the great Japanese poet Shuntaro Tanikawa.

Click here to view on YouTube.

BREATH

By Shuntaro Tanikawa

The wind is breathing
beside my earlobe
carrying the voices of children
making the lake ripple
the wind is breathing

The insects are breathing
clinging to the grass
showing their translucent wombs
reflecting the blue sky in their eyes
the insects are breathing

The stars are breathing
somewhere far away
spiraling without end
twinkling without a sound
the stars are breathing

A person is breathing
all alone
exhaling suffering
inhaling sorrow
a person is breathing