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Evening, 9 Sept. 2018, Radovljica, Slovenia; a linked verse co-edited by Stephen Gill (Tito), Dimitar Anakiev (Kamesan) & Branko Manojlovic; based partly on a long journey made between summer and autumn. Footnotes are appended.
.
As close to Triglav1
as we could be …
a cloud or two apart
Tito
Autumn begins: my
two guests were looking for a church
but they found me
Kamesan
In the mountain breeze
a campanula2 has turned
deep gentian blue
Branko
To my pen as I write
atop the peak —
hoverfly
Tito
Very long ginko3 —
jotting down poetry
using a goldenrod4
Kamesan
Sun-ignited clouds
weighing into
the Julian Alps5
Branko
Lying on its side
on a carpet of grass,
a foal in bliss
Tito
Snails, cats and me —
in the kiwi garden today
friends from Kyoto
Kamesan
The slower path:
deep in forest
spindle6 berries
Branko
A sea wind
blowing through the belfry,
the bells almost tone
Tito
It’s getting colder —
next to a Communist shrine
the Crucifixion
Kamesan
Here Soča7 ran red
with soldiers’ blood …
kids throwing stones
Branko
The pale weeping tree
planted above
my white dog’s8 grave
Tito
Hard for me to grasp
the vanishing of a world:
yerba buena9
Kamesan
Imagine the bulging eyes
that first spied these
viridian lakes10
Branko
Wavering beneath me
through sun-dappled shallows,
faces of mosaic saints
Tito
My big moustache
too wild it got this morning —
the street is so steep
Kamesan
Through the hushed arteries
of ancient Piran11
to its very heart
Branko
A pair of flip-flops
left at the base of the olive —
a story awaits
Tito
Those xenophobic
mosquitoes: bite after bite
for fugitives
Kamesan
In Lika valley12
dark-eyed Syrians — a wary
herd of deer
Branko
.
Footnotes:
1 Mt. Triglav, highest mountain in Slovenia (and former Yugoslavia), 2864m, visible at rear left in the photo
2 campanula, bellflower
3 ginko, haiku composition stroll
4 goldenrod, tall yellow-flowered genus, solidago, mostly from N. America
5 Julian Alps, easternmost range in the Alps, stretching from Italy into Slovenia
6 spindle, pink-berried shrub genus, euonymous
7 Soča, river flowing to the Adriatic from the Julian Alps, scene of First World War fighting between Italy and Austro-Hungarian Empire
8 white dog, a spaniel from upland Nepal named Gabbitas, buried in England
9 yerba buena, spearmint
10 viridian lakes, Plitvice Lakes in Croatia
11 Piran, old port town in Slovenian Istria
12 Lika, region of central Croatia, bordering northern Bosnia-Herzegovina
Photography: ginko via Talež plateau
Firsr published: https://hailhaiku.wordpress.com/2018/09/29/renga-as-close-to-triglav/
2 comments:
Thank you, Dimitar, for hosting us and being our guide in Northern Slovenia - beautiful! Perhaps it is fitting that Mt. Triglav stands in the hokku at the top of our verse. It was a fine experience to make renga with you. I hope we can do it again sometime.
Thanks Stephen, for your kind words! You are anytime welcome here to repeat this wonderful experience of poets being together and dedicated to poetry and love to mountains and nature. Thank you also for your modest posture, I heard your point about the picture. That is why I published link to the original site. But I also think that poets are not less important and this long ginko trip was exciting and probably worthy of recorded memories. Perhaps at this point I think more like a filmmaker than poet but actors are always important to me. Cheers!
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