Kamakura
Wood blocks resonate
With chants and woodpecker song.
Two natural hymns.
/
Ueno
Don’t sway the row boat –
Mirror the twin oars dipping
In glass together.
/
Hakone
Amidst burning steam,
Porcelain meets porcelain,
White heat cleans white skin.
/
Fushimi Inari
Rice and paper
Have built these gates, monuments
To heaven-sent codes.
/
Kyoto
Not all who wander
Are lost, but we were (very).
Eagle-banana.
/
Osaka
Planetarium –
Language not necessary
Looking at the stars.
/
Nara
Dappled deer dancing
Across green marsh, semi-tame
And yet oh so wild.
/
Suwa
Slight of hand can turn
North to South. Self-made chance flips
Set cards to favour.
/
Shishikui
Flow with teal dip,
Grip what’s solid and balance
On sky, air, water.
/
Tokushima
Shutter-snap flashback
To perfect subject and frame.
Blink and you’ll miss it.
/
Hiroshima
A-Dome, monument
To silence. Erasure
Now made visible.
/
Mt. Fuji
Imperial view
Marred by photo opps – but am
I any different?
/
Ryōgoku
Birthday detritus
Swept together for one night
Of sake and song.
/
Tokyo
Controlled form that counts
Each syllable as sacred,
Demanding balance.
Thomas Dylan Bolger 