Originally a poet, Taeko Tomioka turned to fiction later in her career, after the breakup of a long-term relationship and a return to her native Osaka. She moved in with her mother, from whom she had originally run away, reviewed her life and began writing fiction. (Film scripts as well. The first time I heard of her was as scenarist for Masuhiro Shinoda's 1968 "Double Suicide.") Among the first of her post-poetry works to appear was this 1975 volume of short stories, "Dobutsu no sorei."
In an interview included in this collection, Tomioka says that what she was writing then called for the descriptive prose of narration rather than poetry. The lyrical style was not sufficient for the critical, analytic voice that was emerging.
The themes changed as well. No longer was she singing the song of herself; rather she was expressing the need for what she has called "a quasi-family."