Slow Dawn [shintai haiku]

slow dawn -
squeezing the morning out
of a toothpaste tube


Written / posted 10 February 2005 in the WHC workshop; selected for display in the WHC Showcase on 19 February 2005. [And to think I wrote this at a sleepy moment upon arriving at work...] I thought it was senryu, but I guess it's not.

For Ri

I see them
as he touches her
there
between her legs
warmly,
her fruit ripe, swollen;
his fingers,
long, warm knives,
slice
into her waiting
flesh,
open in his hands,
his thumb
on her very nucleus;
she moans,
her breath in gasps;
her juice
drips onto his skin,
liquid fire.

He sees me,
his eyes two lights
dancing
as he holds her tight,
firmly;
my eyes slowly orbit
to her face,
flushed, drugged
with desire;
cradling her gently,
his tongue
glides to her breast,
seeking
to taste her scent;
a smile
catches, parts my lips;

misty-eyed,
she sees me, later
as I make tea.


Written at 04.30 this morning ... for Ri.

Published in Makata International Poetry Journal [http://www.dalityapi.com/makata], Vol. 6, No. 3, March 2005.

To Her Who Almost Was

to her
who almost was my mother
a gentle kiss
for all the lives we had
that never were


Written during my lunch break today, after having opened Gene Murtha's mail containing a William Stafford poem called "Stillborn". Suddenly wonder if they told her I was stillborn, too.

Winter 2004 - 2005

early morning frost
a thin layer of sleep
on the windshield

winter morning
playing with my thoughts
on the snow

winter stillness
deer shadows rustling
behind the trees

layer upon layer
fallen snow fills in
a blackbird's tracks

winter beech -
twigs cover the sky
with brushstrokes

field of snow
in the distance
tufts of trees


Written between the early days of December 2004 and late January 2005. December 2004 marked the rather long moment when I seemed to have discovered my style. These are, in effect, my first ever winter haiku. And now, it's almost spring ...

Haiku Experiment

Situation:
The winter moon looks cold outside. The writer is working till late at night with the radio on and getting tired and sleepy. [The radio is broadcasting news about the Iraq war.]

Neo-Classical haiku form:

winter moon -
the news weaves through
my scribblings

Shintai haiku form:

cold moon -
news of a far-away war
distracts my pen

Vanguard haiku forms:

a harsh light
as the news interrogates
my sensibilities

cold news - my pen
scratches a trail of blood
on the paper

Senryu form:

faithful pen
a quaint attempt to keep things
black and white


My first attempt to write about a single theme using various haiku forms. This specific workshop was set up by WHC director Susumu Takiguchi. The challenge of a hands-on approach always appeals to me. I haven't as yet received any feedback, though.

Old House [a tanka]

how slowly
the old house crumbles
a heap of stone
long before the fire
burned all my love


This tanka may eventually become part of a longer chain of haiku and tanka about the house where I spent my early years - a well of sorrow, a thorn, a dead tree.

Published in Makata International Poetry Journal [http://www.dalityapi.com/makata], Vol. 6, No. 3, March 2005.