Spring — Passion
Kintsugi dawn—
white plum scents night air
tea rises in stillness.
Cranes cross pale sky;
child laughter drifts on moss.
A garden remembers.
Summer — Vocation
Tatami breathes—
cicada shells cling
reborn softly.
Koi flicker below
ripples fade in quiet hands.
Evening thunder calls—
incense drifts
forms bow.
Autumn — Mission
Fox lanterns kindle
shoji float through silver mist—
ancestral spirits stir.
Stray dog nestles
by the gate;
even strays seek warmth.
Tea vapor
recalls morning.
Winter — Profession
Snow settles
on stone lanterns
pine needles in palm.
Cold brushes fingertips.
Crane arcs slowly—
silhouette lingers on old walls.
Work kneaded
with laughter;
fire clothes darkness.
Completion — All Seasons as One
Sakura scatter—
petals dance
mirror tea vapor.
Breath holds the garden.
Circle closes
opens anew.
Tea cools,
reflects sky—
time folds gently.
Sat on a park bench
She exposes her heavy breasts;
Offers him a teat.
Lewd men inwardly applaud
This conformability.
--------------------------------------
Young shoji fixers
In Edo are in demand;
And well rewarded.
Their longest ladders can reach
A widows highest window.
--------------------------------------
The stylish long sleeves
Declare she is virtuous;
A pure innocence!
But impatient for the day
When she picks up the Scissors.
--------------------------------------
With your death this old house mourns as decay smiles
Once a life of glamour held her room of pink brocade
Now ivy grows through broken hearts of girlhood wiles
To smother closet doors as weeping teardrops fade
Her chair empty, now torn and forlornly dwells alone
Lost memories hide behind desolate shoji screens
Softly spoken words silently die as if made of heavy stone
Teasing sweet perfume lingers in their muted screams
Written 9-3-2019
Free Verse or Rhyme Poetry Contest photo #3
Sponsor: Eve Roper
1st place
Plush red velvet pillows rest secluded
light bent amid scenic shoji screens
ornate vines twist and turn giving way
a silhouette stares ahead without face
Pin pricked blood blackened by pain
drips holes drilled out stitched
loop by loop the fabrics of life
tying up loose-end-less thoughts
Time still lost but never found
feelings frost within a frigid wind
felt in the recesses of the dark
trembling fingers wave farewell
His blade cuts through the branches
the dark silence of the moment
bleeds through his kimono
as heavy breath stalks into zen
across the treetops spooks the owl
a tender footstep ~
a glimmer of steel and cushioned reunion
as a weapon draws into it's sheath.
The nights cool chill creeps across
moonlit shadows
As he sits in hungry silence,
just beyond the ray of light
that beckons him to shelter
beyond a shoji door.
and for a moment she's aware
of his desperate lover's stare,
but knowing he's a wanted man
reveals her gentle neck to him
beyond the screen he only sees
the back of her ~
a crackle of the leaves below
a sudden shuffle
and she turns;
to glance into his longing eyes
stabbing torture through the leaves
If only she would honor me.
She knows his pain but still remains
beyond the shoji door in shame
and in his voiceless plea he wakes;
and before their footsteps breach his pain
a tanto's key hung from his chest
where a heart that long since bled to death
once lay.
Looking for the formal definition, structure, and history of this poetry form? Visit the Poetry Dictionary entry below. Then return to explore how PoetrySoup members bring the form to life through their own poems.