Untitled Document

The Summer Grass

Norman Darlington John Carley Hortensia Anderson Agnes Eva Savich

With a guest verse each from the 17 th century masters Basho and Jugo

a trace of the dreams
of warriors past
ah, the summer grass                 Basho

from stem to stook
the dark eye of the crow            John

with a knapsack full
of jelly beans we're
ready to decamp                        Norman

the trail ahead
a country mile or more               Hortensia

grandmother knits
a silk scarf by the
cold light of the moon                 Agnes

that silence just before
the bell is struck                          John

*   *   *   *   *   *   *

he talks in golds and yellows
to any fool who'll
lend an ear                                  Norman

the smell of greenness
through the morning mist            Hortensia

on Palm Sunday
budding swordsmen
duel with their fronds                  Agnes

could I care less
which twin owns that tongue?     Norman

everybody
cries at the wedding
for a different reason                  Hortensia

unmistakeable
lipstick on your collar                  Agnes

homeopathy
or suchlike
questions of dilution                     John

a rough-haired nag
shaking dew from its mane           Jugo

moonlight
slides along the curve
of a wheelbarrow                          Hortensia

beyond the spent forest
a trickle of smoke                          Agnes

*   *   *   *   *   *   *

I hear the flow of tides
but darkly
from my prison cell                           Norman

the mountain monk
fervently shovels snow                      Hortensia

uchikoshi*
says the renga master
uchikoshi                                          John

the year's first chess game
at Washington Square Park             Agnes

gloriously
rampantly triumphant
cherry blossom                                 John

ten thousand baby birds
greet the dawn                                 Norman

*uchikoshi: the 'cardinal sin' in renga/renku composition, of allowing the current verse to resemble, in any way, the previous-but-one verse.

Norman Darlington lives in Bunclody Co Wexford. His recent print publication, Springtime in Edo, is a 36-verse bilingual collaboration with several Japanese and western poets, to commemorate the 300th anniversary of the death of the Japanese master Kikaku. He is Renku editor of the online journal Simply Haiku www.simplyhaiku.com and is founder of the interlingual journal Lishanu . Some samples of his work are showcased at www.Xaiku.com

John Carley lives in the Pennine Hills of northern England , and is a former Renku editor of the on-line journal Simply Haiku. He has performed and published a wide range of material in English, Italian, French and Piemonteis as well as literary translations from Urdu, Bangla and, more recently, Japanese.

Hortensia Anderson is the author of 4 chapbooks and 1 volume of free verse (TRUST, 1994, fly-by night press). She lives precariously on dialysis in the east village in nyc, ny, usa with her bengal leopard cat, camellia. She has a passion for collaborative poetry especially through the internet.

Agnes Eva Savich has written haiku since 2003. She has been published in Frogpond, Acorn, Modern Haiku, The Heron's Nest, paper wasp, the Red Moon Anthology, and Simply Haiku. Agnes currently lives in Austin , TX , USA with her husband and toddler girl. She works from home designing jewellery, websites, and children's clothing.