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.