Letter From Fukushima ~ koyomi renku

Omote



a glance and a nod
then right out that door --
deep spring snow


the moving guys squat
wrestling the quilt box


ebb tide
releasing its grip
on our indiscretions


in a jerry built shack
 under comma shaped clouds


timid steps
on icy slate, moonlight
through an iron grate


two cocktail rings
merge on top the bar




Ura



after we finish
belly laughs
wobble the bed springs


departing geese bode
auguries on the wind


this new appliance
sends a text
when the colors are done


in haikai spirit
a letter from Fukushima


trumpet vine
and Gospel hymns rise
across the sea wall


 a bright sting of salt
in damp morning air





February 2, 2011, edited

bandit / govindajohn
 

Degachi **

** Call for hokku, any season (click here)


* An introduction to Renku by John Edmund Carley

a seven tone renku poem

.







'No instrument is humble, if it works.'
KB

'See you in the darkness.'
Gary Gilmore

I can do anything. In GQ I appeared as a man.'
Boy George

I wanted to be a plumber.'
Robert Goulet

Be the change you want the world to become.'
Mohandas Gandhi

'Deep down I'm pretty superficial.'
Ava Gardner

'what would a monkey do?'
bandit







for Karin
.

porch light

moon flies and chigger bugs
circling the porch light --
Dad calls us all in

new renku

.
















two lane blacktop
each hash mark goes by
in slow motion



A new style of renku in progress at Issa's Snail






.

Duel II

a veil of late frost
all round the bodger's hovel
misshapen flowers






Dueling renku at Issa's Snail

hard red wheat

drought, dry weeds
every sign and billboard
a bullet hole


pheasant chicks in columns
march into the grass

the yearling's death cry
stilled with a penknife -
the only day it rained

curlews choose flight
over Blacktail Dam

pronghorn antelope
plunging across the road
hard, red wheat

a dust trail rises
with the horizon

Bristlecone: a nouveau renku

Bristlecone




bristlecone pines,
they straddle two dimensions
- mountain wind

... gendai



opening the stone,
a sapling sprung forth

... shasei



a red wheelbarrow
leans against the fence,
its tyre deflating

... cultural: literature



how many tassels has
a cardinal's galero?

... cultural: religion



la bella luna
shares a doorway
with the mourning dove

... cultural: music



planting daisies
how pale my hands!

... shasei



disturbed
beneath the wrack and mire,
turtles all the way down

... gendai



only Poseidon’s trident
was found washed ashore

... cultural: art



so auspicious!
her three-faced Buddha
recovered from the storm

... shasei



in the eyes of a stranger
an old lover's gaze

... shasei



at first I laugh
and then I cry
watching the city lights

... cultural: film



from the executive suite -
tents in Zucotti

... cultural: politics



pigeons in pinstripes
scatting across
the canvas squares

... gendai



does it shine, also
on the Sea of Tranquility?

... cultural: music



a Psychic sign
in the palm reader's window
only half-lit

... cultural: religion



the station agent
fresh out of tickets to sell

... cultural: film



high up above
an Escher-like grid
of powerlines

... cultural: art



a radio voice
talks about the blue jay sky

... cultural: politics



crackle, crackle . . .
a rumpless hen's eggs sizzle
away the day

... shasei



the scent of cilantro
from my old umbrella

... gendai



inside the volume
of Van Gogh's letters,
one pressed flower

... cultural: literature



we vow to meet again
to view the meteor display

... shasei







willie, willie, sandra, vida, pat, sandra, willie, vida, p.a., pat, vida, pat, barbara, sandra, pat, willie, ashley, pat, barbara, vida, sandra, vida





Categories of Topics

(4x) - gendai
(6x) - shasei
(2x) - literature
(2x) - art
(2x) - religion
(2x) - music
(2x) - politics
(2x) - film



;;;