senryu

by

Haiku by Ikeda Sumiko (池田澄子)

little Taku’s
first calligraphy this year
a giant oval

拓チャンの書初め大いなる楕円

fig trees
gods or buddha
never saw them

無花果や神も仏も見たことなし

moonlit pillar
if you want to bloom
be my guest

月の夜の柱よ咲きたいならどうぞ

under cherry blossoms
I do not wait to see
if they fall

桜の下散るか散るまで待てません

she is prettier
than I am
the tubifex worm

私より彼女が綺麗糸みみず

All poems originally appeared in Japanese at the Gendai Haiku Association Database (http://www.haiku-data.jp/).

by

Six Senryu by Hisatome Motoko (久留素子)

eating
the lonely parts
of my insides

in this life
we dig the graves
of all we love

this pain
from stepping on
an ammonite

my heart
has become a mermaid
that can’t return to sea

I do not regret
gambling with my life
it stokes the fire

hands reaching
grasping for eternity
is this hell?

内臓のさみしい部分食べている

この生に愛した数の墓を掘る

この痛みアンモナイトを踏んでから

本心は海に帰れぬ人魚なり

一命を賭けて悔いなし火を掲ぐ

差し出す手握るは無間地獄かな

NOTES: These poems were originally published in the Japanese literary anthology Musica, vol. 2 (Jan. 2015).