A Kyōka on Uninhabitable Islands

Posted on March 25, 2021 by B Gourley

Three Kyōka of Animal Aggression

Posted on March 1, 2021 by B Gourley

I
three monkeys
look down from a high branch;
one throws a pit;
a tourist dodges left,
right into the pit’s path

II
a goose struts,
then wheels about – wings flaring –
Karate Kid,
but standing on both legs —
feint with foot, jab with beak

III
a llama
spits in some poor girl’s face
as if she
were Hitler or Kim Jong-Un
classy, Llama, real classy

I
a gnarled branch
twists its sinewy limb
from a crag;
its grotesque beauty
reminds me of me

II
reflections
on the rice paddies
show the sky
in an angry gray,
but dampen its scowl

III
glacier melt
leaves a great scar
gouged in the earth;
the gray and brown wound
looks like man’s doing

I
the post-perched bird
remains still, but for its eyes,
which dart about —
below, fish shoot and jink,
thinking the post oddly shaped

II
the mountains reflect
off of that glassy lake
with such clarity;
all know which mountains are true
except for the fishes

III
behind the barracks,
some local women gather
to bath at the well.
he pretends not to look
they pretend not to be seen