Contemprary Tanka Poet Mariko Kitakubo.

when my mother
has silently slipped
from her life,
I sought a new star
in the Milky Way

tranquilly ashes
continue to fall
on this ruined village
where like a scream
the silence shines

after all the years
of a single mother
with one daughter,
this empty space -
a leaden-gray moon

after viewing the 'Nuclear Scars of Chernobyl' exhibition of photographs by Hirokawa Ryouichi

approaching I see
a village ruined
wind howls on high
as if all their names
have been forgotten

after viewing the ' Nuclear Scars of Chernobyl ' exhibition of photographs by Hirokawa Ryouichi

sometimes
while I gaze at the sky
I'm thinking
of hydraulics,of what
my boy is studying

it feels like I'm astray
in a giant sand-clock,
with quantities of sand
falling down on me
from time to time

urn your back
on your mother and walk on,
grow strong -
the wind of your childhood
blows bright in my memory

I've gone on
not putting it all
into words - now
sounds from the river
within me grow louder

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