March 25, 2014

A Wee Fairytale / Et bitte eventyr - haibun

A Wee Fairytale

it's a leaky boat made from the web of starlight that light that is the loneliest kind in the universe in that boat a king sets out to conquer the world hoping to gain power over a multitude of creatures none of which he has made (or could ever make) he suffers the vain hope it'll make him happy happier than he is at the moment that's in the nature of men: ever searching for something that'll make them a bit more happy than he is and that's why staircases are endless

wet as it falls rain

he doesn't question his urge nor does he question whether he has the right to rule over other creatures living by their life-force for him his quest for fulfilment – be it ever so temporary and volatile – is what inhabits his dreams at night fills his heart every day and makes his spaghetti taste like mud his yearning and unhappiness is the core of the cosmos and he doesn't lift his eyes to look out the window

with good will that silhouette is a peregrine falcon

but of course the boat sinks at some point and of course the king don't get to rule the endless universe it's always all or nothing with kings like that and at the bottom of the World Ocean he gets to practice folding a jellyfish into a hat

bouncing off photons a tree is eight minutes older




Et bitte eventyr

det er en lækkende båd lavet at stjernelys det lys der er af den mest ensomme slags i universet i den båd sætter en konge ud for at erobre verden i håbet om at opnå magt over en mangfoldighed af skabninger hvoraf ingen er skabt af ham selv (som om han kunne skabe nogen) han har den vage formodning at det vil gøre ham lykkelig i hvert fald lykkeligere end han er for tiden det er i menneskers natur: altid at lede efter noget der vil gøre dem en smule gladere end de er og det er derfor trapper er endeløse

våd som den falder regn

han sætter ikke spørgsmålstegn ved sin trang ej heller spørger han sig selv om hvorvidt han har ret til at bestemme over skabninger der lever ved sin egen livskraft for er hans søgen efter at opnå sit mål – det være sig nok så midlertidigt og flygtigt – det der fylder hans drømme fylder hans hjerte hver dag og får hans spaghetti til at smage som mudder hans længsel og ulykkelighed er kernen i kosmosset og han løfter ikke sine øjne for at se ud af vinduet

med lidt god vilje er silhuetten en vandrefalk

men selvfølgelig synker båden på et tidspunkt og kongen opnår ikke at herske over det uendelige univers det er altid alt eller intet med sådanne konger og på bunden af Verdenshavet får han tid til at øve sig i at folde vandmænd til hatte

reflekterende fotoner et træ er otte minutter ældre

March 24, 2014

Samsara - haibun

the rope I climb I have taken from the spinal cord of a stoned homeless man slowly merging with the flow of acid rain heading for the ocean via the sewers at times it's a snake or a ladder for dwarfs and ambitious ants at times it's a newsstand selling old papers “we can only examine processes which are already in the past” the black rider says gulping down the homeless man's dissolving tattoos

flat-out broke
I sell my reflection
for dust

I will never die I will die continuously that's the deal of being and being again at some point I will have collected enough coupons to get the holes for the flute I carved from my right femur I give a pizza a sky funeral pigeons and gulls descend from the cake in the sky while I hum Psalm 23 “I shall not want” but I do I do want and it keeps me going

Om Bhur Bhuvah Svah …
somewhere there's a koi
with my name on it





In Japanese, koi is a homophone for another word that means "affection" or "love"

March 14, 2014

blur


smudged
by dirty
windows

the moon's
there

barely
full


:


no
pretending

the knee
that hurts

the moon
there


:


no
drama

blur
red

moon


:


not
even
a distant
car

just
a cat
in
heat

this
cold
night

:


what
attitude
needed

that
bare rock

hanging


:


a year
since

I polished
these
windows

the moon's
older