Under the Bashō 2023
Linked Forms, Sequences and Contrapuntal Poetry

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Written by: Clayton Beach & Stephen Bailey

Clayton Beach
Stephen Bailey

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Written by: Cynthia Anderson

eruption

getting me nowhere
these fantasies
of running away

after the lava

vog and laze
sleepwalking through
the daily routine

cold again

pitch black night
the drone of crickets
under burning stars

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Written by: Gregory Tullock

Shiki’s ambition
an insatiable tiger
stripped of its claws

his poem journeys
to smaller mountains now
- cockscomb and peony

from his sickbed
observing the beauty
of all that passes 

a fish in a bowl
swimming in glass-walled freedom
this painful beauty

a moonflower falls
the night so quiet
it echoes

dawn breaks early
the night too short
and painfully long

his fever rising
how he longs for the rain
of the picture-book store

Shiki’s frail hand
love letters to a garden
seen through a window 

Shiki in his bed 
strolling through the garden
stepping on nothing

Shiki flies out
among the chrysanthemums
- a butterfly 

outside his window
the dew evaporates
each drop a Shiki

the invalid poet
a once in a lifetime
persimmon

Shiki rises up
his body motionless
- hototogisu

Shiki’s death bed 
the bird has taken flight
unseen garden

Shiki’s empty bed
his enduring brilliance 
loaned to a star

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Written by: Jennifer Hambrick and Richard Gilbert

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Written by: Jenny Ward Angyal

my ruined knee
will carry me no further
than the banks
of my own pond . . .
I dive into stillness

roiling mud
in shallow water
pain obscures
the silver minnows
of the mind

slowly
silt settles
the search
for lotus root
& snapping turtle

the illusion
of a separate self
bites deep—
sharing the sun
with frog spawn

in the depths
an ancient catfish
lurks unseen. . .
I wait for the softest
brush of barbels

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Written by: Joanna Ashwell

moon dragonfly
skimming the pond
of an upturned sky
a flash of stars
our dream flight

pen poised
how to begin
to say goodbye
the empty rosebuds
of winter

how can I say
my part in this
one half sky
one half ocean
gravity’s quill

the encyclopaedia
we all wish for
to avoid the pitfalls
the cuckoo song
within

ocean star
loosening from sky
a ridge of light
the long horizon
to aim for

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Written by: Joel Dias-Porter

(AN IDEA OF IMPROVISATION WITH SHELLS ON A BEACH)

tonba di txuba 
na pedras di kaminu 
rizu kriansa 

fall of rain
on the roadway's stones 
a child's laughter

jogu di óril 
sinku gritu di korbu 
na sangi-drága 

game of Oril
five cries of a crow 
on the dragon's blood tree 

areia pretu
entre nha dedus di pé 
ondinhas mornu

black sand 
between my toes 
warm waves 

kanson baléia
azuls di mar ka sima 
azul di seu 

whale song
the blues of the sea are not 
the blue of the sky 

na aguas di mar 
ondulason da lua 
éku di sinu 

on ocean water 
ripples of the moon
the echo of a bell

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Written by: Mariko Kitakubo & Deborah P Kolodji

sweet rain
on my flower bed
I welcome home
its early spring
scent

green buds
the rebirth
of a garden

Sakura shoots
covered with 
March snow
will a painless future
be possible?

parasites
the loss of an orchard
crop

how many 
years ago
the bloody soil
around my roots
pain recalls pain

strife planted
I yearn to be rain-drenched
with healing

       Mariko Kitakubo
       Deborah P Kolodji

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Written by: Mariko Kitakubo & Deborah P Kolodji

more than
30 years ...
a thorny road 
brings me here,
endless future

the water shoot
grows taller
fresh rose buds

is there 
an air pocket?
swinging 
high up in the sky
free flight

starling murmuration
the playground 
empty now

a vortex 
revolves around 
Polaris...
sleeping cat 
on top of the slide

backyard sprinkler
grandchildren jump
over the jets

Mariko Kitakubo
     Deborah P Kolodji

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Written by: Michelle Hyatt & Jacob Salzer

new worlds
spoken into existence
Pele clears her throat

           Hi’aka dancing . . .
          thunder echoes over the sea                        

flashes of mist
Lilinoe awakens
over Haleakala

        third trimester . . .
       the scent of Haumea's flowers
       in the baby's cry 

swaying palm fronds
Laka lifts her arms to the sun

      Nāmaka's tidal wave
      crashes into the fire . . . 
      her whispers

Michelle Hyatt, Canada
Jacob D. Salzer, USA

“ʻĀina,” the Hawaiian word for “land,” means that which feeds. It encompasses the Hawaiian worldview of a reciprocal and familial relationship between people and the land.