Thursday, 31 December 2020

duelling haiku/senryu with Myron Lysenko -- a work in progress (November-December 2020) and New Year's Eve treat

 




 

 

MYRON

torn box
on my doorstep
pristine books

 

 

KIT

good to hear, Myron 

tattered box is a worry 

congratulations to you 

 

 

 

a Christmas of reading

to  break the pandemic

you’re very welcome too

 

 

MYRON

new books

in my pockets...

 weekly walk

 

 

KIT

with the spring in his step

only poetry gives

now floating through  the streets

 

 

MYRON

lunch alone

the table covered

with new books

 

 

KIT

three trumpery senryu before the 2020 election is called

 

two and a half more months

of the tantrum

how gracelessly this one must go

 

a wilting trumpet

mulches down

so I am to the garden called

 

Columbus went to the grave

thinking India

this one believes he’ll still win

 

 

 

MYRON

no trumps

in our game of 500

election results

 

 

Trump's speech

trains derail

all along his crooked tracks

 

 

KIT

oh say can you see

is that the last of him?

how I long for that

 

 

MYRON

humiliated

yet still the bully

won't go home

 



the bigger the prick

the bigger the lies

fuck off Trump

 

 



KIT

what lacks in subtlety

is made up for

in gall and bile and spite

 

 

 

KIT

midge million swarm

everything got a watering

including me

 

a mulberry wilt

comes purple past

clouds are further still

 

 

MYRON

clucking hen

two old men

work on the roof

 


what is the price

of each book?

frogpond in rain

 

 

 

KIT

ten frogs

one broken arrow

a cock for Asclepius

 

 

 

MYRON

cheap book

but the poet is dear...

budding rose

 

 

 

KIT

in every bucket of shit

that speck of gold

one yearns to find

 



MYRON

a friend loves

the look of my book

-- rhododendrons

 

 

KIT

I think the cover worked really well

the printer argued the toss

but I knew

 



shell of a snail

on the carpet inside

these are the damp days now 

 

 

 

white butterflies

risen from the rain

camera too slow to catch

 

 

MYRON

new book

he buys padded envelopes

and stamps

 

 

 

KIT

from the burnt track

come to a breeze like the sea

watch a parrot sing

 



MYRON

surrounded

by so many bird songs...

flowers at dusk

 

 

the cooee

of an eastern koel

wet clover

 

 

 

KIT

so many days Sunday still

until the trailbikes

and we know it is

 

 


in my mind I shoot the koel

hear those two notes

no more

 

in my mind I shoot the koel

hear only the cicada hum

one note where there were two

 

 

MYRON

sleeping

with my laptop...

 isolation

 

 

KIT 

black on green

ant over an unripe lemon

globetrotting

 

 

 

frog discovers pipe

and pops in

everyone hears about this

 

 

MYRON

white roses

the frogs still singing

in sunshine

 

 

KIT

bark falls in sheets

haze hangs, gum trunks glow

wearing this last rain

 

 

MYRON

rose petal –

a tooth falls out

of the sandwich

 

 

 

KIT

cicadas take it

to the top of the tree

frogs can’t hear themselves think

 

 

MYRON

waning gibbous

 a duck calls

through the shadows

 

 

KIT

treetops

in leaf tipping bright

and who’s above to see?

 

 

 

MYRON

branches lift

in the summer wind

zero cases

 

 

KIT

giant paspalum

webbed at first light

tells of the spider’s dark

 

 

MYRON

window web

the old man’s

tangled bedclothes

 

 

KIT

in a cicada stillness

great heights up of blue

and leaf – which first to stir?

 

MYRON

sunshine

on the rose petal

a bee

 

 

KIT

many are the decibels

cicadaly

with whom the bird of rhyme contends

 

 

MYRON

sleeping cat...

 I write yesterday's haiku

today

 

KIT

someone here

is winged to bite

and tells the season too

 

 

MYRON

pencil pine

the golfer marks

his card

 

 

KIT

trimming the paths 

pursued by march fly, mosquito

eternal struggles go on

 

MYRON

light plane

a cockatoo flying

the other way

 

KIT

storm in the tall grass

leaf drip

pond all lily quiver

 

 

picnic preparation

taking down the cobwebs

he sets a beetle free

 

 

 

MYRON
summer floods...

candles like gumboots

around his cake

 

singing

happy birthday

cicadas

 

a publisher

checking the forecast

gaps between clouds

 

KIT

if I follow yr instructions

Myron yll see me

in hospital...

 

 

MYRON

summer storm

the new book

a ray of sunshine

 

road trip

in every paddock

the same sheep

 

 

 

KIT

no! each sheep must be unique

they’ve pulled the wool

over your eyes

 

last shower – a come down

the picnic awaits

Beethoven’s birthday today

 

 

MYRON

coming

down the road

birdsongs from trees

 

 

 

KIT

gets right up your nose

first hint of a sneeze 

(not a COVID symptom)

 

 

MYRON

Bulahdelah

the sounds of cicadas

from Markwell

 

 

 

KIT

silent cicada on the picnic table

brushed off

then flew away

 

 

Cheng Ho conquered Ceylon

but just for a while

no one remembers why

 


MYRON

new cluster

a crab crawls away

from my footfall

 

 

KIT

from the picnic

dash back to borders you choose

every bear sad after

 

hope you got away okay

and over and across

thanks for being there

 

it is the season

of carking rodents

drip drip drip

 

 

 

MYRON

a pigeon

flies across the border

sugarcane

 

 

 

 

KIT

whipbirds

wax the stillness

spiders build in the storm

 

 

MYRON

book launch

cicadas cheer on

every poet

 

 

KIT

clear blue

after a picnic of it 

only cicada piss falls

 

 

MYRON

the publisher

at the launch

gentle rain

 

 

 

KIT

spider tears across the terrace

gets there

just in time 

 

 

MYRON

a blackbird

walks beside the freeway

sunflowers

 

 

 

 

 

KIT

leafly and shone

a flicker on the floor

shadows cast again

 

 

MYRON

hot breeze

the girl's hands move

over her piano

 

 

KIT

a rose persists

in this stiff breeze

silent invisible worm

 

 

sixth sense forgotten

by rule bound senryu-ist

granny sucks her eggs

 

 

by the way

see no sign of your money

expect it may come soon

 

 

if he wanted a lesson

he’d ask for it

fart lingers on the breeze

 

 

MYRON

old fart

but still

the roses bloom

 

 

KIT

but only if you’re

in the room

you just have to be there

 

 

KIT

tell her she can

keep paying

we won’t accept any limits at all

 

ant travels

to the end of the leaf

finds nothing of interest there  

 

 

 

KIT

last beetle

of Christmas still clings

to the tinselly tree

 

 

 

MYRON

humid dusk

they climb the rocks

to the pier

 

 

grapes on the vine

has my payment

come through yet?

 



KIT

dragonfly lands

on top of dry flagon

nothing rhyming here

 

 

 

 

MYRON

high humidity

he finishes

his blog post

 

 

 

 

 

 

KIT

cicadas take up

the sunshine and blue

all this attention seeking

 

 

MYRON

palm trees

sway around the pool

floating clouds

 

 

KIT

these waspy bugs

with the yellow feelers

are taking off again

 

 

MYRON

It looks just like

a lolly

gecko

 

 

KIT

and now a real little wasp comes in

light gathers it up

I will it into unswept webs

 

 

MYRON

bated breath...

inside the hunter's head

then the fox's

 

 

KIT

cicada static

the sixes and thunder

what the radio says

 

 

 

MYRON

crickets at dusk

all the batsmen back

in the pavilion

 

 

KIT

mosquito just floating towards me

salute

you are about to die

 

 

 

MYRON

mailbox:

plum blossoms

all over the power bill

 

 

 

 

KIT

goanna in a tree cling

and shy

snuck around the side

 

 

MYRON

straining

the spaghettini...

negative test

 

 

KIT

pumpkin tangles 

with some nameless weed

struggle for the soil

 

 

 

 

 

MYRON

last day

rain all over

my lips

 



KIT

the rain persisting here too

I take off my hat

unzip and join in

 

 

MYRON

last day

of 2020

haircut



in petrichor

we mull the mist

a kookaburra bides

 

 

 


 


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