tanshi/tanka cluster

the gentleness of lapping waves

im unafraid to hear 

what you'll say

-

on a night of fireworks 

in the darkness

realizing you aren't 'the one'

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under a steel-grey sky 

feeling as though we're people

in a monochrome photo

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fat oval moon 

unconcerned with what 

the children of Adam are doing 

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these days, all tangled up 

in poetic theories...

ash from my cigarette falls nicely 

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happiness is

stopping by the florist 

to buy flowers for dinner  

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wanting to be vulnerable 

and you take me in your arms—

comfort of old house slippers 

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beach picnic for one—

over a sandwich watching 

some man in the sea

-

now turning 3 am 

i enjoy this hotel silence 

a fast walk around 

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he never loves only lusts

still i corral him 

pink peaches ripen slowly 

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considered myself clever...

amazing the things we 

fool ourselves into believing 

-

in the stairwell 

pausing to practice my breathing 

the walls a steel gray 

-

saying 'hello' to the candy-seller 

for a moment 

my childhood returns strongly

-

across the Elizabeth river 

life on the naval base 

regimented and ant-like 

-

when the cherry blossoms fell 

i found i really missed 

the smell of pine cones 

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walking around 

this hotels parameters

suddenly i crave candy corn badly 

-

as if pushed out by stoning 

i left home and my problems—

could never outrun myself 

-

in this Dallas rain 

the evil in my house settles 

for just a moment of peace

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'thank you Ishikawa...' 

all night i spill my feelings 

in three lined verse 

-

like an popped balloon 

all of my childhood imaginations 

have simply just stopped

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i adopted a penname 

'Matsukaze' 

something sensual about wind in pine trees

-

there's a part of me 

that wants to be wild... 

yellow of marigolds in late summer

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