POEMS
Hosai Ozaki
"FREE VERSE HAIKU" FROM
BIG SKY
At Shodo Island
From August
1925,
when he entered Nango-an, the inner sanctum
of Saikoji T emple in Doshomachi, Shodo Island, Kagawa
Prefecture, until April
1926,
when he died there.
Before me, fish fly, showing off, in the is land's sunset, where I've
come
Daybreak's early on the beach, we bump il1lo each other
Having come this far and writing a sudden letter
Wi th a dog that started fol lowing me I don't know wh en , I'm on
the beach
After seeing the town's Bon lanterns, I get on a boat
Having myself waited on by an is land girl
I, a mountain priest's drinking companion, there's a round
moon
Combing the p lentifu l hair, moon lit night
Having become a pickling weight, smug, a hunk of gravestone
