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Judith Ann Gorgone

SHORT POEMS - haiku, tanka, sijo

poems from 1994-97

My book summary:
Haiku
Tanka
Korean Sijo

HAIKU

JAPAN

I thought your touch would
transform me but it made me
realize who I am.

JAPAN POWER LINES

Crosshatched power lines
blur the landscape, block my view
transforms your beauty

MT FUGI FROM THE PLANE

Sits on the table
of winter clouds, a surprise
dessert for my soul.

TINY SHRINES

Our neighborhood shrines
grants wishes and hears prayers.
everyday God for man

FROZEN FOUNTAIN

In winter music
doesn't trickle from bamboo fountains
frozen time without beat

GRAVEYARD

Guarded by Buddha
purple grows from grey gravestones
a crocus rises

YOU'RE FADING

Memories of you
fading, a mere gentle breeze
with seasons passing.

JAPANESE NEIGHBORS

Taps on the tile roof
the crow mimics their cleaning
snapping futon mats

SHUGI

Order, discipline
gone is spontaneous breath
creative freedom

ORDER OF THINGS

Wood, tile and concrete
Japans geometric landscape
pattern contrasts nature

HILL OF FAITH

Three shrines top the hill
made of matchsticks letting in
Summer's spiritual glow.

RICE QUILT

Rice paddies, chartreuse squares
layered, water reflecting Spring sun
elements that sustain life

PADDIES

Patchwork quilts of rice
monochrome green fluid fields
covering Spring's earth

HATTOGI

You are part of me
Your colors, your seasons,imprints
I am part of you

SUNSET FIRES

Burn it, burn it down,
watch that fire fill the sky, burn
your air, make us drown

SHODO - CALLIGRAPHER

A master paints words
strokes flow down like mountain streams
water from his soul

NIHON

Aesthetic society you were
Put up power lines, laundry poles
Took it all away

STORM

Clouds roll in like smoke
backlit by a fiery eclipse
eery sky remains

FUTON CLEANING

Pat, Pat, Futon mat
Tap it, tap it, again n again
Nippon housewives tune

EASTER EGGS

The Chestnuts dangle
from the tree on flower road
like Easter eggs

TALKING TO JAPANESE

I struggle with words
communicate to people
who can't hear my ideas

LOVE SCAR

The pain from a knife
and a kiss are the same
the scar's what remains

JAPAN

My Thoughts like the birds
tangled and caught in the wires
can't seem to get free

BACKPACKS ON THE TRAIN

What do they carry
chock full in tiny backpacks
besides tradition?

TEMPLE TILES

Curling temple tiles
tease me peeking through buildings
sakura blossoms sway

PAPERCUT

shadow of a ginkgo tree
oriental papercut
cast by April sun

RHYTHM

The hollow drum beat
of the bamboo fountain trickles
a buddhist chant

FORSYTHIA

Familiar blossoms
scents of different colors
tones of an East wind

GRACE

OH Nipon, Nipon
so much charm overshadowed
by blind ignorance

SUNSHOWER

A taste of Spring rain
from sudden clouds refreshing
a rainbow glistens

SNOW MOON

The snow moon slithers
between thickening clouds
a flake kisses me

MILKY WAY

God's gift from the sky
a basket of tiny stars
tied with a moonbeam

FULL MOON

August moon rests low
porthole to the universe
thru indigo sky

GOODBYE

All the time I had
is gone, I pack my bags full
with sweet memories

POET

I ponder deeply
a poets words so simple
and yet so profound

LOVE LOST

Yes, you have left me
but you have not gone away.
you rest deep inside

MARTHA'S VINEYARD COTTAGES

Ornate icing top
candy colored wedding cakes
Vineyard Bluff's statues.

VINEYARD BUTTERFLIES

Paisley butterflies
dance past gingerbread cottages
with the island breeze

GRAND CANYON

Miles of red canyon
casting shadows in sunset
a silent leaf falls

SEOUL

Brown clay kimchi pots
line balconies of high rises
new and old Korea

TOKSUGUNG, Seoul

Standing in a row
on ancient tile roof corners
the gods peek thru snow

POJANG MACHA

Huddled in plastic
they slurp hot soup for their souls
by kerosene stoves

HAN RIVER

It's playfulness gone
desolate under thick fog
a ferry fumbles

NO INCENSE BURNING

Lifeless winter temples
empty kimchi pots clustered
incense turned to dust

MIST

I left Seoul today
I can't see the city behind
the haze and my tears

KOREA

Goebe sands swirl round
desert needles sting my eyes
Hanguk's Spring blur

COLOR OF WINTER

Red, green, blue roof tops
heavy in soot and grey haze
are tones left behind

HARVESTED

Burnt fields, black of death
await a new green harvest
hazy hills hover

WEST HILL

Crosshatched feathered trees
line hilltops like the great wall
cold winter skyline

TANKA

love once filled a hole
a heart's place never empties
since that love is gone
a place remains left behind
it is now whole filled with tears.

shimmering in sunrise
we awoke to love that lay
on petals like pearls
sadly as the flower opened
love's moist dew rolled off into tears

KOREAN SIJO

shimmering fireburst colors, swirling yellow and orange
fall leaves fluster past windows, cupped in cold winter winds
glowing like gold from mountains, too soon they will turn to dust

brisk autumn rain the last rights, cleansing the earth for winter,
choked frozen stems break away, leaves fall from cold branches
half dead they blanket wet streets, the cycle of life repeats

I fell asleep nestled in down as part of a white world..
and woke up to water dripping from branches where snow had been.
it seems nature is as fickle as I, white is now grey

leading through to the shrine, stories stacked like dominoes
Spring sunlight seeps in, it's shadows repeat the pattern
a silent chant of color, an orange gateway to god.

Please take time to visit my pages if you haven't already!
http://www.geocities.com/paris/8870/funmail.htm (finedesign free funmail greetings)
http://www.geocities.com/paris/8870 (color and verse page)
http://www.geocities.com/paris/8970 ( f i n e d e s i g n )
http://www.lennartz.com/judith.htm haiku...more poetry

Copyright.
Judith Ann Gorgone
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