12 Poems Inspired by Hokusai by Alan Catlin

 

12 Poems Inspired by Hokusai

 

1‑

Morning sun,

blocked by crows;

obscure vision.

 

2‑

Fuji,

snowcapped,

red sun sinking;

the sea on

fire.

 

3‑

Last Ronin

fight;

a warrior's head,

impaled by arrows.

 

4‑

The Great

Wave:

toiling seas

falling from

thickening sky.

 

5‑

Shadow warriors

fighting the passage

of day into night.

 

6‑

Hokusai,

the master,

laughs.

 

His studio

burns.

 

His rice bowl

empty. 

 

7‑

Hokusai

in hell

 

draws perfect

circles

 

one inside

the other. 

 

8‑

Hokusai

walks a swaying

rope bridge;

below a chasm,

birds of prey.

 

9‑

Water

falling,

a red

night

of terror.

 

10‑

Hokusai

sketches the whole

of the earth

emerging from sky.

 

11‑

Hiroshima

reduced

to grey matters

of atomic dust 

 

12‑

A Self Portrait as an Old Man

 

Deeply furrowed flesh,

facial lines,

eroding landscapes;

 

even dying, eyes

still laughing.

Alan Catlin has published dozens of chapbooks and full-length books. He latest published works include How Will the Heart Endure (about life and work of Diane Arbus( from Kelsay Books and listening to the Moonlight Sonata from Impspired (UK).