fearful of people fearful of hippos A Discourse on the Fatherland --Daisuke Kawai 人をおそれ河馬をおそれ祖國論　川合大祐 #senryu #gendaihaiku #translation

lightning splits the sky just a single-minded naked body --Shinko Tokizane 裂ける雷ただひたむきの裸身たり　時実新子 #senryu #translation

disassembling the piano -- the start of a long summer --Daisuke Kawai ピアノ分解ながい夏のはじまり　川合大祐 #senryu #gendaisenryu #translation

bunny-hopping in the hopes that God will forgive me --Shinko Tokizane 神様に許されたくて兎跳び　時実新子 Take 2: wanting God's forgiveness I do bunny-hops Note: "bunny-hops": strength-training exercise once used as punishment in Japanese schools/athletics (ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E3%82%...) #senryu #translation

cutting out everything summer grove --Daisuke Kawai あらゆるものをそぎおとし夏木立　川合大祐 #senryu #gendaisenryu #translation

This week’s Fallen Petals post commenting on Bluesky Haiku and Senryu. Featuring poets: @flip89db.bsky.social @asurashaiku.bsky.social @ireneaddie.bsky.social @jennfel.bsky.social @oevermann.bsky.social Trail moss and birdsong open.substack.com/pub/thesehai...

burning letters from my mother arson --Shinko Tokizane 母からの手紙を焼いている放火罪　時実新子 #senryu #translation

I threw out the erotic comics artists's bonsai tree --Daisuke Kawai 成年漫画家の盆栽を棄てた　川合大祐 Note: 成年漫画, lit. "adult comics," as in explicit adult material (not to be confused with the homophone 青年漫画, comics written with a general young adult male audience in mind) #senryu #gendaisenryu #translation

living with an ogre, washing his loincloth --Shinko Tokizane 鬼と暮らして鬼のふんどしを洗いおり　時実新子 Note: Traditional Japanese ogres ("oni") are often depicted wearing "fundoshi," a type of loincloth (The Japanese repeats "oni," so the third line is technically "the ogre's loincloth") #senryu #translation

going down the hill to abandon my mother Billennium --Daisuke Kawai 母を棄てに坂をくだる時間都市　川合大祐 Notes: 時間都市 (lit. "Time City") appears to be an allusion to the J. G. Ballard dystopian short story "Billennium"; see The Ballad of Narayama for legends of abandoning elders #senryu #gendaisenryu #translation

all men one man the swamp glistens --Shinko Tokizane すべての男一人の男　沼の照る　時実新子 #senryu #translation

a bloodless revolution at the Hotel California --Daisuke Kawai ホテル・カリフォルニアに無血革命　川合大祐 #senryu #gendaisenryu #translation

a cool, clear river runs through me! --Shinko Tokizane 清冽な川がわたしを貫くよ　時実新子 #senryu #translation

the seaslug dries out flash fiction --Daisuke Kawai 海牛がかわいてゆくショートショート　川合大祐 #senryu #gendaisenryu #translation

wrapped up in the scent of lilies a rebel heart --Shinko Tokizane 百合の香に包まれていて謀叛心　時実新子 #senryu #translation

nothing but loss The Modern Poets Library --Daisuke Kawai うしなうばかり現代詩人文庫　川合大祐 #senryu #gendaisenryu #translation

there are nights when I consciously become a moth to the flame --Shinko Tokizane 意識して火蛾となる夜のありはあり　時実新子 #senryu #translation

people should cry parents for children children for love --Gin'ichi Kishimoto 人は泣くべき親は子に子は戀に　岸本吟一 #senryu #translation

paradox the gymnast's glutes --Daisuke Kawai パラドクス体操選手の臀筋　川合大祐 #senryu #gendaisenryu #translation

falling, falling away from me red sasanqua --Shinko Tokizane わたしから散る散る紅の山茶花　時実新子 #senryu #translation

the plus-size model's charged novel --Daisuke Kawai プラスサイズモデルの荷電小説　川合大祐 Note: 荷電小説 (lit. "electric charge novel") seems to be an original term from Kawai #senryu #gendaisenryu #translation

laughing at a man's mediocrity, the morning wind freezes --Shinko Tokizane 男の凡を嗤って朝の風凍る　時実新子 #senryu #translation

the end of May a crude metafictional poem --Daisuke Kawai 五月尽メタフィクションの下品な句　川合大祐 #senryu #gendaisenryu #translation

playfully I keep imitating his gestures --Shinko Tokizane たわむれに似て真似の手を重ね　時実新子 Note: more literally "resembling play, repeatedly doing imitation hands"; the above is my best understanding of the intention #senryu #translation

as a Hachiman shrine, the sun is silent --Daisuke Kawai 八幡宮として太陽は無音　川合大祐 #senryu #gendaisenryu #translation

face distorted in the mirror; married when we lost the war --Shinko Tokizane 顔歪む鏡敗戦時に嫁ぎ　時実新子 #senryu #translation

Burroughs's ticket to the capital of the real --Daisuke Kawai げんじつのみやこへバロウズの切符　川合大祐 #senryu #gendaisenryu #translation

snow is falling, falling down on the hand of another man's wife --Shinko Tokizane 雪こんこ人妻という手にこんこ　時実新子 Note: 雪こんこ seems to be a reference to a well-known children's song (雪); こんこ roughly translates to "falling" or "coming (down)" (perhaps from こいこい) #senryu #translation

the melons are expensive at Don Quijote a monkey grave --Daisuke Kawai 瓜高しドン・キホーテに猿の墓　川合大祐 Note: Don Quijote, or Donki for short, is a well-known discount store in Japan #senryu #gendaihaiku #translation

in the room at sunset, I have something to hold close --Shinko Tokizane 夕焼けの部屋抱きしめるものがある　時実新子 #senryu #translation

An Essay Concerning Human Understanding Amuro is dead --Daisuke Kawai 人間悟性論アムロは死んだ　川合大祐 Note: 人間悟性論 is the Japanese translation of John Locke's famous essay; アムロ is the name of the protagonist of Mobile Suit Gundam (Amuro Ray) #senryu #gendaisenryu #translation

in my blood now a hundred crickets --Shinko Tokizane 血の中に今百匹のキリギリス　時実新子 #senryu #translation

sprawl music theory rotting fatherland --Daisuke Kawai スプロール音楽論腐る祖國　川合大祐 #senryu #gendaisenryu #translation

rainy day: when the call is about to connect I hang up --Shinko Tokizane 雨の日のダイヤル通じそうで切る　時実新子 #senryu #translation

fake news reports autumn in Beijing --Daisuke Kawai フェイクニュースが伝える北京の秋　川合大祐 #senryu #gendaisenryu #translation

thinking of that man, looking at this one --Shinko Tokizane あの人を思いこの人見ています　時実新子 #senryu #translation

cutting along the dotted line: scrotal area --Daisuke Kawai 点線に沿って切りとる陰嚢部　川合大祐 #senryu #gendaisenryu #translation

my husband as silent as a rice bowl turned upside-down --Shinko Tokizane 茶碗伏せたように黙っている夫　時実新子 #senryu #translation

this world is too cold; fire temple --Daisuke Kawai この世界は寒すぎる炎の寺　川合大祐 #senryu #gendaisenryu #translation

the distant story on a person's back --Shinko Tokizane にんげんの背中の遠い物語　時実新子 #senryu #translation

in a century of war a collection of hippopotamus genitalia --Daisuke Kawai 戦争の世紀に河馬の性器集　川合大祐 #senryu #gendaisenryu #translation

night after night a traveler dwells in my breasts --Shinko Tokizane 夜ごと夜ごと乳房に旅人の棲めり　時実新子 #senryu #translation

summer passed, autumn passed, and the cicadas are dead --Daisuke Kawai 夏過ぎて秋過ぎて蟬死んでいる　川合大祐 #senryu #gendaisenryu #translation

untangling my hair at night I contemplate life --Shinko Tokizane 夜の髪ほぐし生命をみつめたり　時実新子 Note: The possibility exists for a slightly more surreal reading--"untangling the night's hair...," but the above reading is more likely intended; also, lit. "I gaze at life" #senryu #translation

Koenji as seen from a whale rushing toward death --Daisuke Kawai 死に急ぐ鯨からみる高円寺　川合大祐 (Possible allusion to the band Hundred Sights of Koenji, which is itself an allusion to 100 Sights of Edo) #senryu #gendaisenryu #translation

See Miyazawa Kenji “A Future of Ice” poems and stories of a Japanese Buddhist (Sato) for explication of Asura (s): “contentious sometimes malevolent giant who ranks between the human and the beast, a sort of perpetually dissatisfied trouble-maker.” Gratitude to this account — embracing art of haiku.

stepping barefoot through the flames, headlong into love --Shinko Tokizane 足裏に火を踏む恋のまっしぐら　時実新子 Take 2 (slightly more literal): the soles of my feet step into the fire, rushing toward love #senryu #translation

calculating pi in the sea of suffering --Daisuke Kawai 苦の海の円周率をはじきだす　川合大祐 Take 2: deriving pi from a sea of troubles Note: probably an allusion to 苦海, the Buddhist concept of "a sea of suffering," but my mind connected it to Hamlet's "sea of troubles"... #senryu #gendaisenryu #translation

it was the woman who replied, I'm watching the wind --Shinko Tokizane 風を見ていると答えた女なり　時実新子 #senryu #translation

Zarathustra speaks after the cave-in --Daisuke Kawai ツァラトゥストラの語る落盤後　川合大祐 #senryu #gendaisenryu #translation