Renga

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)

a sun's stroke has just arrived over the seas in three lines (K)

look! that shooting star lets someone in love wonder where all's going to (H)

make an unseasonal wish blowing out birthday candles

on penguins turning their back to the north the snow in spring starts to fall

unfeathered painters line up their mouths unable to keep closed

birds sprout on the bough their throats swallow the new sun spring sings in the trees

all peek out and see the light no exception, even moles

in one-sided love you are to shoot a water pistol at the moon

the arc of our wet passions causes eerie eclipses

the earth's axis in such a lonesome ballet leans on nothingness

yes, this is my lucky day! best tarot I found with google

in the cold darkness light is like a paper bag popped between god's hands

firework drops have turned into golden sparkling of champagne

Pretty good, huh?