Tanka
the bar
where the married woman would be
had to wait
I was busy screaming
a punishing force kept me away
an elf
I've become for you
my darling
this, my first elf poem
must—does
mean I care
I made love
to her
while her new boyfriend waited,
on the couch, downstairs
during my good-bye wail, he
crept upstairs to take a peek
there is a
level
of suffering one reaches
and poems salute
the incarnate benediction
the dove, the heart; the bloom
calm
befriended,
a symphony of petals
fans our capes
and our bemused smiles
welcome this garden sublime
is it voyage
or increment of falling star
your palms absolve
once one's eyes focus
and an embrace, yours, finally lets go
stretch
one day's wherewithal
into two
whippoorwills
will troupe themselves
as soon as
the stars
rained down their glory,
her intense eyes
adopted a fawnlike demeanor
and he suggested more such walks
a pillow
of parables awaits his slumber
next to notebooks
he sleeps; whatever is
not remembered has its resting place
summarize it
thus:
the cocksure agenda of
the egret
may be minnowed
once the sun lays claim
alive,
this nightmare to catapult
and to disquiet
is there a garden
in Japan not crushed
she
journeyed afar
and he lamented—listen
to the willows talk
they're wishing
for rosebuds for his lips
in his ward
I left him and into the shade
I exited
I did say I would return
we'll discuss, again, the afterlife
once the
bluebird
flew to a lower branch
of our favorite tree,
our smiles widened
and with sweeter words we speak
her
eyelashes
blaze a trail for the weary
not to follow
—this
tintinnabulation of love bytes,
these blinks, quite gymnastic
O pond,
a pebble nurtured by you
I must have
a keepsake of this day,
to bring to my home this calm
