Kiyoko's Hands

There is a proper way to do everything, and it is important to do everything properly!

These are the hands of Kiyoko Tokutomi slicing green onions 

that will be part of the meal she is preparing for us at the Machmiller beach house 

when Mr. Masahisa Fukuda, the scholar and renku expert (His haiku name was Shinku!) 

visited during the Yuki Teikei Haiku Retreat at Asilomar. It was in 1998, I think.

Kiyoko also knew there was a proper way to write haiku; she continued to write

haiku in Japanese, although she lived in America for most of her adult life.

The haiku in the book below were originally written in Japanese and published in

a haiku journal there. They were translated by Patricia Machmiller and Fay Aoyagi;

the book was published shortly before she died, and she was able to read from it 

at the Yuki Teikei holiday party in late 2002.

Autumn in the air--

from morning on, pieces of cloud

tear off and scatter

In a deep ravine

a car has been abandoned--

autumn sky so high

Kiyoko Tokutomi

from Kiyoko's Sky,

Brooks Books, 2002,

pages 79 and 43.

Editor's Note: I have plans to keep

adding content to this blog.

Plans are just plans, but better

than nothing...