Sunday, June 18, 2017

tumbling down the alley: a solo shisan renku

.


tumbling down the alley


cherry sapling-
pavement and peeled paint
blush in the morning light


tumbling down the alley
the detritus of winters past


from this vantage
faceless voices below
sound more familiar





a dew of sweat
favors her upper lip


as we age together
you remain
so hard to please


there's always applause
for bad karaoke



a cruise round the loop
overpowered by funk
and the Texas big beat


a run and a leap
into piles of leaves


at harvest festival
a drunken moon comes
stumbling through the door





through the looking glass
for a tipple with Alice


reciting
odd parables
we don't understand


clouds in the water
pierced through by whale's song




.

4 comments:

Pasadena Adjacent said...

as we age together
you remain
so hard to please

I love this one (and the cherry / blush)

bandit said...

A love verse, part of the requirements of this linked verse form.

'if detained or captured, I will disavow any knowledge of any such mission statement, even on pain of death'

Also, we have a blossom verse, as well as the moon, by default, always autumn, unless otherwise stated. All seasons receive a reference, in this shortened modern form of haikai-no-renga, in chronological order. Spring and Autumn receive two slots, for they are the major seasons.

'Winter?', you ask? Why, it's the whale, of course, according to traditional Japanese kigo.

Each section (there are four)should be self-contained, creating four poems that meld together, if you will.

Jean Spitzer said...

I'm with PA on this.

And I also needed the explanation of the form to appreciate the technical part, though I liked the poem without it.

bandit said...

edited June 18, 2017 Bandit