Kino Sadamaru (1760-1841)

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Though this body, I know,
is a thing of no substance,
must it fade, alas,
so swiftly,
like a soundless fart?

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Source: Sato, Hiroaki, and Burton Watson. From the Country of Eight Islands: An Anthology of Japanese Poetry. New York: Columbia University Press, 1987. Print.

Kyōka

Wikipedia Poem, No. 485

kyoka2

kyōka demands
and thus spreads its limited
classical leanings
common language or mundane
puns gross swordplay wet altars

Hezutsu Tōsaku (1726-1789)

affluence

Affluence—define it as:
pickled greens,
rice for supper,
nice wine, one bottle,
modest but never empty

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Source: Sato, Hiroaki, and Burton Watson. From the Country of Eight Islands: An Anthology of Japanese Poetry. New York: Columbia University Press, 1987. Print.

First Barn Owl Egg Hatch

Wikipedia Poem, No. 484

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“There is a separation / between life and death / where [feathers] grow // and that is where I want to go / this weekend,” paraphrasing Padgett

screech
in green darkness
and 
stamp 
         my 
          talons

wet 
      leafy flesh 
the 
master has built 

there 
will be 
many bones

a small mouthful
       of mouse
      a 
      fatty 
       bite