VALERY IS ONE OF [THE POST-BEAT ARTISTS], AND PERHAPS THE LAST SURVIVING ONE AT THAT. IN 2019, HE FINALLY CAME TO JAPAN WITH HIS WIFE RUTH, AND WE MET EACH OTHER AT A HOTEL NEAR TORIMARU DORI IN KYOTO. WE FOUND THAT WE SHARED A KINDRED SPIRIT, AND I HAD THE CHANCE TO LISTEN TO HIM TELL ABOUT HIS LIFE FROM BIRTH TO EXILE AND BEYOND, ALONG WITH HIS DEEPLY CONSIDERED IDEAS ON DADAISM AND SURREALISM. HE TOLD ME THAT HE HAD RECENTLY VISITED HIS OLD HAUNTS IN RUMANIA TO PROMOTE A TRANSLATION OF HIS NEW COLLECTION OF POETRY, WRITTEN IN ENGLISH, CALLED “ANARCHY FOR A RAINY DAY,” FIRST PUBLISHED IN NEW YORK IN 2015.
—Tetsuya Taguchi (trans. by Yuko Otomo)