A few months ago I was asked to be part of a renga with Keiji Minato (a Kyoto-based poet whom I had the great pleasure to meet last year) and another Japanese poet named Hiroshi. We wrote ku in turns, with Keiji translating between Hiroshi and myself. Here’s what we wrote. The letters in brackets at the end of the first three ku indicate who wrote it – the order is preserved throughout.
hello haikunauts!
i write to you in autumn
golden leaves flying (D)
over the seas in three lines (K)
look! that shooting star
lets someone in love wonder
where all’s going to (H)
blowing out birthday candles
on penguins turning
their back to the north the snow
in spring starts to fall
their mouths unable to keep closed
birds sprout on the bough
their throats swallow the new sun
spring sings in the trees
no exception, even moles
in one-sided love
you are to shoot a water
pistol at the moon
causes eerie eclipses
the earth’s axis
in such a lonesome ballet
leans on nothingness
best tarot I found with google
in the cold darkness
light is like a paper bag
popped between god’s hands
golden sparkling of champagne
Pretty good, huh?
