mama chicken
struts with great confidence
for one wrangling chicks.
Chick Wrangling [Senryū]
Reply
Maybe the first lines constrain the last;
Maybe ends insist on openings;
Maybe some truths escape all words;
Maybe dulcet lines tell no truths.
One may need to keep separated --
Beauty and truth -- to avoid wounds.
Inspect and haggle over each word --
Distinctions maybe finer than a hair;
Weigh each edit upon a scale;
Ensure each cut serves its purpose.
Original poem in Simplified Chinese:
或仰逼于先条,或俯侵于后章。
或辞害而理比,或言顺而义妨。
离之则双美, 合之则两伤。
考殿最于锱铢,定去留于毫芒。
苟铨衡之所裁,固应绳其必当。

stony outcrops
& tawny scrublands:
alien landscape.

first droplets
of a Spring shower ripple
on the river.

quiet morning:
the big city, even
the river is still.

willow-lined stream
swells with a rush of
Spring white water.