Shisan Renku: No Single Star

very many things
it calls to mind
this cherry blossom

lace curtains flap
on the washing line

fuel oil stench,
a ferry pushes out
as waving hands recede

* * * *

vomit-flecked
the drunkard’s smile

highlighting
two wine glasses
sun streams through the window

pricked by thorns
she retrieves her broken locket

* * * *

the vandergraaf generator
lifts
his only hair

an anvil cloud
looms above the rooftops

stag beetles
scurry over cobbles,
bomber’s moon

* * * *

Wagner’s Ring
SatNav going nowhere

an owl cries
across the blackened marsh
reeds stiffen

through the skylight…
no single star

composed 21/04/06
Kilnsey in Wharfedale

Keith J. Coleman
Takenoko
Matthew Paul
Stuart Quine
Fred Schofield
Joan Sheridan-Smith

Basho translation: John E. Carley (sabaki)