agencies and native tongues
*KXSW is best heard near dawn on a weekday morning, US central standard time; it will offer your spirit power
today's moon; will there be anyone not taking up his pen? onitsura
*KXSW is best heard near dawn on a weekday morning, US central standard time; it will offer your spirit power
Withering Winds
Journeying so far in the
rain, my hat has split apart at the seams.
Nightly my paper coat does battle with the
elements.
Having grown familiar with poverty, I try
a little self-pity. But there was once an
eccentric fellow - a crazy waka Master -
who travelled these parts stirring up the
countryside. And it occurs to me to simply
take my turn:
Basho
crazy verse, |
Basho | 狂句こがらしの身は竹斎に似たる哉 |
who's that - a spray |
Yasui | たそやとばしるかさの山茶花 |
at dawn |
Kakei | 有明の主水に酒屋つくらせて |
a red pack-horse tosses dew from
her mane |
Jugo | か しらの露をふるふあかむま |
Korean grass |
Tokoku | 朝鮮の細りすすきのにほひなき |
as daylight dwindles |
Shohei | 日のちりちりに野に米を苅 |
|
this little retreat, |
Yasui | わがいほは鷺にやどかすあたりに |
willing the hair to re-grow |
Basho | 髮はやすまをしのぶ身のほど |
all the illusion |
Jugo | いつはりのつらしと乳をしぼりすて |
desolate tears |
Kakei | きえぬそとばにすごすごとなく |
in the cold of dawn |
Basho | 影法のあかつきさむく火を燒て |
sheer penury |
Tokoku | あるじはひんにたえし虚家 |
the koman willow |
Kakei | 田中なるこまんが柳落るころ |
tugging a boat through the mist |
Yasui | 霧にふね引人はちんばか |
with a sideways glance |
Tokoku | たそがれを横にながむる月ほそし |
retired from court, |
Jugo | となりさかしき町に下り居る |
number two nun |
Yasui | 二の尼に近衛の花のさかりきく |
butterflies in weeds |
Basho | 蝶はむぐらにとばかり鼻かむ |
|
a conveyance, |
Jugo | のり物に簾透顔おぼろなる |
now - a voice - |
Kakei | いまぞ恨の矢をはなつ声 |
the outlaw’s |
Basho | ぬす人の記念の松の吹おれて |
for a time Sogi’s name |
Tokoku | しばし宗祇の名を付し水 |
removing my hat |
Kakei | 笠ぬぎて無理にもぬるゝ北時雨 |
a single endive |
Yasui | 冬がれわけてひとり唐苣 |
shattered shards |
Tokoku | しらじらと砕けしは人の骨か何 |
cuttlefish bones, |
Jugo | 烏賊はゑびすの国のうらかた |
the riddle of this |
Yasui | あはれさの謎にもとけし郭公 |
an urn of limpid water |
Basho | 秋水一斗もりつくす夜ぞ |
Japan's Li Po, |
Jugo | 日東の李白が坊に月を見て |
tucked in the lutist's hood |
Kakei | 巾に木槿をはさむ琵琶打 |
|
remembrance |
Basho | うしの跡とぶらふ草の夕ぐれに |
a small basket of shad |
Tokoku | 箕に鮗の魚をいたゞき |
my prayers |
Kakei | わがいのりあけがたの星孕むべく |
little sister's eyebrows |
Yasui | けふはいもとのまゆかきにゆき |
silken gauze, |
Tokoku | 綾ひとへ居湯に志賀の花漉て |
a walkway trailed |
Jugo | 廊下は藤のかげつたふ也 |
Translation by John E. Carley, with his
daughter Edith Carley
November, 2013
Rossendale, Lancashire, England
John Carley conducted this twenty stanza Nijuin
renku in 2013. It went on to win the Grand Prize
in the Haiku Society of America Bernard Lionel
Einbond Competition6.
It was quite an achievement in itself, and one
might say under the conditions he suffered,
absolutely amazing. John, however, was invigorated
by the session. With his trademark aplomb, John’s
thoughtful leadership and encouraging nature drew
on the strongest attributes of each author,
combining them to produce a poem of the highest
quality. The judges' comments concur:
“ … when the sabaki (lead poet)
communicates with clarity and the renju
know just what is required, the result can be a
polyphonous harmony, in which the very differences
in the poets' voices are harnessed to strengthen
the unity of the whole. Such is the case here.
It is no exaggeration to call 'Early Morning Heat'
a tour de force, and the judges feel no
hesitation in awarding the Grand Prize.”
Early Morning Heat
a line of ants |
S |
perhaps you’d care |
J |
country-western |
W |
she pastes her happy snaps |
C |
* * * |
seeking, hiding |
L |
in the blackberry basket |
S |
the chameleon’s tail |
C |
with a shiver of silk |
J |
everyone answers |
L |
the street-sweeper |
S |
* * * |
misunderstood |
L |
a smear of something |
J |
snowbound highways |
W |
lemmings stream across |
C |
over and over and over |
W |
all that Dresden china |
J |
* * * |
granddad hides his stash |
C |
a blackbird tugs a worm |
L |
rising above |
W |
between our dreams of spring |
S |
Composed January 18 to February 15, 2013
John Carley, England (sabaki) - J
Lorin Ford, Australia - L
Cynthia Rowe, Australia - C
Sandra Simpson, New Zealand - S
William Sorlien, USA - W
forest verdure -
from each a separate branch
squirrels natter and nag
on every certificate
a check mark next to climate change
before he passed on
'Cisco was a friend of mine
election year -
they take it on the arches
when the bus breaks down
neutrino particles
rushing backwards through time
safe at a distance
petals of apple blossom
carpet the ground
did anyone hear
what happened to Zika?
blustery day -
crowds across the commons
mingle and merge
pleasantries punctuated
with a crack of gum
handing back change
her cherry blossom tattoo
fresh with red ink
today's the day
I'll paint my mailbox blue
in names I can't pronounce
their words a reverie --
ripe persimmons
a good student,
hating himself,
does what he's told
neutrons in the reactor's core
at critical mass
Little Book of Yotsumonos