Ariel Kalinowski
 

O moon that fills from sliver
to fullness—
a black stream has drowned me:
her hair,
her voice.
            —Hempi Monastery

The moon pours
into a dark flowing stream.
I sit,
wondering:
what am I like?

sparrows
circle the temple,
little black
knives—
siva’s dreams

lonely dogs
on the beach,
a blind elephant
steered by a whip—
stars… and the moon.

Wide as Mt. Fuji,
empty as cold air—
the eyes in the train window.
Osaka.
Kyoto.

Ariel Kalinowski is the editor of Talisman Magazine (www.caravantalisman.blogspot.com). He is an avid reader of both modern English tanka and translations of the Japanese masters.

Copyright 2009: Simply Haiku