Published on 21 March, World Poetry Day.
Japan is a world of its own, but of course we gaijin take our whole world with us when we go and bumble about there for a time.
Intoxicated by the idea of a wandering poet like Matsuo Bashō – who gave us the first Narrow Road To The Deep North – I bought a little blue book and tricolour pen in a stationery shop, a little kanji stamp of Yamakawa (Mountain River) in another, and set about writing poems the way I play improvised piano: no rules, trust the process.
Unlike haiku, these 17 poems – 4 quartets and a centrepiece – just arrived in the moment unshepherded; in the hotel room, on the train, under a tree, in the snow, in a shopping centre. Some rhyme in places, some get a rhythm up, but all were followed with love and care to see where they went.
They taught me to trust the process, just as Keith Jarrett and my #j4zzd0c adventures on YouTube have shown me.
I hope to write some Bashō-style travelogue to go with these poems. I also hope to write some memoir, strands of narrative crossing 8000km to life at home, the stuff every traveler takes with them on the Narrow Road to the Deep North.
(apologies for the cursors and mice! I screenshat because the formatting was a nightmare. I will suffer for my poetry only so much)
The Normal Grown-Up 