Sunday, February 22, 2015

Japanese Friendship Garden

                                                                                                                                         jhhymas
There goes Pat Shelley in her elegant raincoat! 
We were at the Japanese Friendship Garden in San Jose 
for one of the Yuki Teikei springtime Haiku Readings in the Tea House
in the Garden, quite a few years ago now. You can even see from here
the pretty color of her hair; she told me once that
the tint was a special recipe for her, made by her colorist
by adding "a capful of Red Fox" to a blonder shade.



JAPANESE FRIENDSHIP GARDEN

Cherry blossoms. Voices of people
lifted quietly into the air
Fins extended like wings or feet, the koi

walking on water
my sandaled feet on a path
deep in pebbles. The faraway sound

of a bamboo flute, one note
without a name. The ranger
offers us food for the koi

Near the Tea House
the cryptic
stepping stones.

Pat Shelley

from The Rice Papers, Saratoga Trunk, 1992, page 65.

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