Tea Ceremony tanka
tea ceremony-- so tightly curled camellia leaves open as they steep the way you woke this morning
Posts
winter and spring tanka.
the bones of winter become the limbs of spring nothing to squander … the buds of my youth dormant on their boughs
grandmother's orchid tanka
grandmother's orchid was a rainy day in my presence, the pool of wax under a burning candle, foam from a waterfall
a woman moves earth to dispel grief tanka
she spread fires and floods on her toast, moving earth to dispel her grief ... now she reads the horoscope
one of these days poem
one of these days ... you'll fall down the side of a mountain and I'll dream about scarecrows with twisted limbs bouncing from rock to rock
change is continuous
change is continuous on the seamless web yet moments come when you feel upon your heart the announcement of an end
to the small throat of sorrow tanka
the small throat of sorrow… I am that hungry yellow boy from the third world
to reach silence tanka
to reach silence naming what doesn't change I walk in the river of crisis toward the real finding the center of my fear
everybody has a heartache tanka
everybody has a heartache, blues in the midst of this vastness a drift of plankton
I have my own goats to tame tanka
I have my own goats to tame in the silence of my garden and a bundle of sorrow I share with my lilies
worried your name is missing tanka
worried your name is missing— it circles in the shadow-world a wind-blown ghost
shadows prisoners left on the wall tanka
shadows prisoners left on the wall — scattered in a mass grave
a prison of sunlight tanka
a prison of sunlight on my skin — wildflowers sing to me, the dust of the dead dances on my tongue
in bad faith - a mystical tanka
in bad faith— our sun or then again the moon against a flat abyss, a groundless ground
a walk through the painted sky tanka
walking through the painted sky — in this prison I count and recount bones in the blaze of morning
