Evening, 9 Sept. 2018, Radovljica, Slovenia; a linked verse co-edited by Stephen Gill (Tito), Dimitar Anakiev (Kamesan) & Branko Manojlovic; based partly on a long journey made between summer and autumn. Footnotes are appended.
.
As close to Triglav1
as we could be …
a cloud or two apart
-Tito
Autumn begins: my
two guests were looking for a church
but they found me
-Kamesan
In the mountain breeze
a campanula2 has turned
deep gentian blue
-Branko
To my pen as I write
atop the peak —
hoverfly
-Tito
Very long ginko3 —
jotting down poetry
using a goldenrod4
-Kamesan
Sun-ignited clouds
weighing into
the Julian Alps5
-Branko
Lying on its side
on a carpet of grass,
a foal in bliss
-Tito
Snails, cats and me —
in the kiwi garden today
friends from Kyoto
-Kamesan
The slower path:
deep in forest
spindle6 berries
-Branko
A sea wind
blowing through the belfry,
the bells almost tone
-Tito
It’s getting colder —
next to a Communist shrine
the Crucifixion
-Kamesan
Here Soča7 ran red
with soldiers’ blood …
kids throwing stones
-Branko
The pale weeping tree
planted above
my white dog’s8 grave
-Tito
Hard for me to grasp
the vanishing of a world:
yerba buena9
-Kamesan
Imagine the bulging eyes
that first spied these
viridian lakes10
-Branko
Wavering beneath me
through sun-dappled shallows,
faces of mosaic saints
-Tito
My big moustache
too wild it got this morning —
the street is so steep
-Kamesan
Through the hushed arteries
of ancient Piran11
to its very heart
-Branko
A pair of flip-flops
left at the base of the olive —
a story awaits
-Tito
Those xenophobic
mosquitoes: bite after bite
for fugitives
-Kamesan
In Lika valley12
dark-eyed Syrians — a wary
herd of deer
Branko
.
Footnotes:
1 Mt. Triglav, highest mountain in Slovenia (and former Yugoslavia), 2864m, visible at rear left in the photo
2 campanula, bellflower
3 ginko, haiku composition stroll
4 goldenrod, tall yellow-flowered genus, solidago, mostly from N. America
5 Julian Alps, easternmost range in the Alps, stretching from Italy into Slovenia
6 spindle, pink-berried shrub genus, euonymous
7 Soča, river flowing to the Adriatic from the Julian Alps, scene of First World War fighting between Italy and Austro-Hungarian Empire
8 white dog, a spaniel from upland Nepal named Gabbitas, buried in England
9 yerba buena, spearmint
10 viridian lakes, Plitvice Lakes in Croatia
11 Piran, old port town in Slovenian Istria
12 Lika, region of central Croatia, bordering northern Bosnia-Herzegovina
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