Tokyo, Encore

1.
If the dead of Nagasaki
resurrected
on whose payroll should they be listed?

2.
The cherry trees in Shinjuku belong to poetry
more than to reality — and here they stand again
in a poem: blossoming, real.

3.
Yellow smog over the palace, never mind.
The emperor is no longer divine,
he watches the telly and is impressed.

4.
Even in Tokyo the sparrow is
at home. But if God lives in nature,
his place is growing filthier!

5.
MADE IN JAPAN
Lost faces
The Haiku moment

6.
A fresh mystery: Fuji just stands there.
Cars rust, and the Tokyo Tower. What's new?
Nothing. But the planet is sick.

7.
Caught in a traffic jam,
Springsteen on the car radio -
Japan no longer lives in Tokyo.

Translation P.K. Brask & Patrick Friesen
© Niels Hav