Twenty years before, James had given
\nlectures on exoplanets at Meiji U
\nin Tokyo, which was a kind of heaven
\nfor him. What particularly drew
\nhim to it was how this mosaic
\nof simulacra was basic-
\nally and utterly itself: a French cafe
\ndetailed down to a Cinzano ashtray
\nreplete with aproned gar\u00e7on
\n(sauf qu\u2019il ne parle pas<\/i> fran\u00e7ais<\/i>);
\nbookshops in a language there was no way
\nto read. James loved the foreign.
\nTokyo was a place to find it within,
\neither the foreign itself, or its twin.<\/p>\n
A young colleague at Meiji,
\nwhom he told he\u2019d once tried
\nAikido, asked him if he\u2019d maybe
\nenjoy the service of a personal guide
\nto the headquarters, the Hombu Dojo.
\nJames would never have gone solo.
\nHe was eternally grateful he did.
\nAikido took, so amid
\nhis abtruse models of planetary
\nformation, birth and death there arose
\na \u00a0paradigm of throws and blows
\nturning around balance and ki<\/i>.
\nOne reason James liked linked verse:
\nits goal was to persuade, not coerce.<\/p>\n
*<\/p>\n
The Old Observatory is a renga-fiction about James, a \u00a0retiring professor of astronomy.<\/span><\/em><\/p>\n