
the black sand bay
under rainy gray clouds:
boats rock anxiously

the black sand bay
under rainy gray clouds:
boats rock anxiously


As in Hokusai’s Great Wave,
I watch waves roll over,
before a volcanic cone.
Though these waves are
small & close,
they are perfectly rounded.
And though the distant volcano
looms large over the shore waves,
it has perfect symmetry.
I feel the roundness
&
simultaneous devastating power
of both elements at once.

waves crashing
on a rain-darkened shore
lull me to sleep,
as pelted boatmen
tug their boats inland



volcanic rock
at the sea’s edge; where
lava met its match

cornstalk beetle
bigger around than the stalk:
bad at hide-n-seek

clouds conform
to a volcanic cone
like a blanket

a dragonfly lands
on a lotus seed head
without making sway

the monkey sage sits —
not napping, but looking so,
on the temple wall