Mother Said, I Want Your Pain - Paperback

by Naoko Fujimoto (Author)

Three generations later, and still World War II looms large in the daily lives of a Japanese family. Japan's dual role as a perpetrator of war violence and also as a victim of the absolute devastation caused by the dropping of atomic bombs on Nagasaki and Hiroshima complicate ideas of loyalty and identity even to this day. As Naoko Fujimoto's speaker navigates the troubling history of air raids, destruction, and crises, she also struggles with her own ambivalence in bringing a child into that world. Mother Said, I Want Your Pain is a testimony against war, weighing the unhealed wounds that echo through generations.

Author Biography

Naoko Fujimoto was born, raised in Nagoya, Japan. She is a poet and translator. Her poetry collections are "We Face The Tremendous Meat On The Teppan", winner of C&R Press Summer Tide Pool Chapbook Award by C&R Press (2022), "Where I Was Born", winner of the editor's choice by Willow Books (2019), "Glyph: Graphic Poetry=Trans. Sensory" by Tupelo Press (2021), and four chapbooks. She is a RHINO associate & translation editor and Tupelo Quarterly translation editor. She is a Bread Loaf Translation full scholarship recipient and the 2023 Visiting Teaching Artist at the Poetry Foundation. Her first translation chapbook is available from Toad Press (2024). Her full-length translation collection, "of Women", is forthcoming from Tupelo Press in 2026. She lives in the Chicago area.