Hometown in Five Lines: 188 Poets Unite in the 8th World Gogyoshi Anthology
What does a hometown mean to someone who has left it behind? How does it live on in language, memory, and the small details of everyday life? The 8th Anthology of World Gogyoshi (2026), edited by Taro Aizu, brings these questions into focus through the voices of 188 poets from around the world.
Dedicated to the theme “Hometown,” the collection gathers five-line poems written in English and each poet’s mother tongue. Together, they offer readers an opportunity to encounter places through the words of people whose lives and memories are connected to them.
A World of Poetry in Five Lines
Gogyoshi means a five-line poem. In the World Gogyoshi project, poets present their work in both English and their mother tongues, creating a meeting place between international communication and individual linguistic identity.
This bilingual approach gives the anthology a particular richness. English makes the poems accessible to a wider readership, while the original languages preserve another dimension of each contribution: its sound, rhythm, and cultural associations. Readers encounter both a shared poetic form and the many languages through which it finds expression.
The brevity of five lines invites poets to choose carefully. A place, a memory, or a feeling must take shape within a small space, leaving room for the reader’s own response.
Hometown as Place and Memory
“Hometown” is a theme with broad emotional possibilities. It can evoke the landscape of childhood, a familiar street, the language spoken at home, or a place remembered from afar. It can also raise questions about belonging: where we come from, what we carry with us, and how our relationship with a place changes over time.
By bringing together 188 poets, the anthology opens this intimate subject to a worldwide conversation. Each contribution adds a personal perspective to a theme that readers across cultures can recognize.
An International Literary Encounter
According to the release announcement, the anthology is now available through Amazon in multiple countries.
The 8th Anthology of World Gogyoshi offers a distinctive journey through hometowns around the world, guided by poetry and enriched by linguistic diversity. Within its five-line form, a local memory can travel far—and find an unexpected home in another reader’s imagination.
Hometown World Gogyoshi Anthology is available on Amazon
