from A Long And Rainy Season

    * * *

For a waterlily
And a man and a woman --
The afternoon is long.

--Kiyoko Uda 


   ***


Vast field of flowers;
the sail of a cloud passing
slowly.

--Koko Kato


   * * *


On my frozen nerve
there is a place
where a red canary
comes
to perch.

--Fumi Saito


   * * *

Horses --
hearing the sound of the wind
I draw them out of the canvas
and make them take off.

--Fumi Saito


   * * *


The droning of cicadas
fade behind me
like a stone weight --
I've got your letter
with me.

--Chieko Yamanaka


   * * *



At daybreak
  I wake up crying --
intimation of rain
  and future heartaches.

--Amari Hayashi 


   * * *


Palm of the
wind --
fanning
specks of light
across the Shimanto River.

--Machi Tawara


Translations by Leza Lowitz, Miyuki Aoyama and Akemi Tomioka