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Tag: Japanese verse forms

Close the Book: haiku

Published on June 11, 2025

I follow no book;
I recognize no guru.
Truth is not written.

Some may point the way;
others show by example.
There is no method.

There is right and wrong;
either can build or destroy.
Both sides are losers.

You know what is true:
the path is not so easy.
It is not a path.

Words may nourish me,
but they are not food.
No one eats hot air.

I do not follow,
nor do I want to lead you.
Our paths simply cross.

Wake up from sleeping;
I am right here beside you.
Let’s see what’s out there.

11 Jun 2025

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Untitled: tanka

Published on June 11, 2025

Have you seen the wind
as it kisses the ocean,
setting the salt free?
There at the edge of the world,
seagulls compose serenades.

Have you seen the dawn
as it sneaks up on the night,
its arms soft and warm?
There at the start of the day,
the grass tears are moist.

Have you heard the sound
of the trees in the sunshine,
stretching to the sky?
There in the warmest embrace,
the world is made whole again.

11 Jun 2025

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On Map-Making: waka

Published on June 10, 2025

If you take an inch
when offered only a mile,
how far have you gone
beyond the wide map’s edges,
where no length is yet measured?

What good is a ruler
past the end of the known world,
where one nothing looks
so much like the next something
that both have no start or end?

Would all your spare change
gathered and stacked together,
sorted by value,
be enough to help you evolve
or just buy a stale gumball?

If you take an inch
from one side of the wide world
and add it, carefully,
to the far end’s distant edge,
is your map any bigger?

10 Jun 2025

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The Snow Breathes: choka

Published on June 10, 2025

Your first breath at dawn
is not the same as the next;
light and air seep in.
How does the eye gain focus?
All illusion is chaos.

The first thing you see
when you choose to close your eyes
is an exhaled breath.
How do you know it is there?
Each summer follows a spring.

A first impression
lasts longer than the last one;
time is relative.
How do you keep it captive?
Once snow melts, it is water.

10 Jun 2025

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The Moment’s Warmth: katauta

Published on June 9, 2025

Why do we seek something beyond?
The morning sun comes up without our permission,
and warms us in spite of ourselves.

Why do we want to live forever?
The eye of the needle doesn’t count
the lengths of thread that pass through it.

Why do we want an answer?
The stars fade as the sky brightens,
their shining simply hidden by a closer light.

Why do we refuse the answer?
While the fire is burning, it is neither wood nor ash;
enjoy the moment’s warmth.

09 Jun 2025

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Who Really Knows: mondo

Published on June 9, 2025

What is the point? A blue flower opens.
Who sees a flower? The sky is cloudless.

Where are we going? A wave tickles the sand.
Who feels the current? The wind tastes salty.

Why do we not know? A butterfly passes.
Who sees tomorrow? The moment is endless.

09 Jun 2025

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What Else: choka

Published on April 30, 2025

What else can I say?
The world is what we make it,
or maybe it’s not.
The little splashes we make
barely change the water’s calm.

What else can we do?
From nothing, everything comes
and then it is gone.
How we choose to measure time
makes little difference to it.

What else could there be?
Nothing exists forever;
and how would we know?
We see just the horizon;
life doesn’t stop at our eye.

30 Apr 2025

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