Excerpts from the Heart Mountain Poetry Society

Kawashima Hatsune

The morning dew in the flower garden, too, has grown lonesome! 

The train departing in the morning chill, the frightening blue eye 

Having become a dekasegi woman: the end of autumn¹

The gladdening autumn: riding into the interior together in a horse drawn wagon  

Having borne no flower, an autumn eggplant on the high plain

The luster of apples piled high on the table

Terada Batsuzan

A line of geese wrapped like a ribbon around the sky

A piano rhythm bursting forth: a pear flower

The small birds have all disappeared from the wide prairie

Tossed from hand to hand, the apple that finally lands in mine 

Falling a little behind the group—dew on the road

Fujioka Saikō

Fluttering in the snow then taking flight: a small bird

Small white birds rising up all at once out of the sagebrush plains

Little birds circling about Heart Mountain, towering above the deep blue

On a winter’s morning, I think of my camp child

The grass burr, even spikier on the high plain

Sauki Ijō

A streak of cloud, spotless, the tall sky

The autumn butterfly—its beauty fills me with pity

And then there are days I think of the weariness of old age²

Settling into this makeshift room, lamenting the passing autumn

The morning chill, the mist hitting my cheek, the lakeside path

Hishiki Eiko

Above the hill, autumn clouds flying, crows flying— 

House scattered here and there: between the mountains, apples ripening

Appearing on a sea of clouds, a small bird flying

Sadly clutching an apple, still wet from morning mist

Pressed like a board by the north wind— 

Kinoshita Musei

Exiting the movie theatre, a rush of cold night

Folding my travel clothes—grass burrs! 

Night falls—in the thick grove a small bird chirps

Hishiki Mukō

Cables crossing the canyons, autumn clouds 

Slamming shut the gate with my shoulder, the chill of night 

Strands of mist swirling together into one

Peeling an apple as light reflects off the far snowy peak 

Kōzaki Chakin†

A particularly small bird approaches the cosmos flower

Tending the garden morning after morning: the cool dew

Fumbling around in my pocket for a match—a wild berry! 

Fujioka Muin 

A flock of birds, wings beating the ground as they rush up into the air

A sudden burst of wind, a little bird’s wing resembling an arrow

The mountain before me a flaming red: autumn clouds

A pup wagging its tail, grass burrs stuck to it— 

The dirt path through the plateaus, drenched in dew 

Inoue Midori 

A little garden, a butterfly: a clear autumn day

A little grass burr stuck to the hem of my skirt

The morning star’s sharp light, the northern wind

Okada Sueo

Migrating birds fly overhead as I hurry to pick the field tomatoes

Now bereft of customers, the corner store’s beautiful apples 

The giant buffalo shaking and spilling grass seed as they chew and chew 

The trout flopping on the grass, spraying water droplets everywhere 

Ozaki Kazue 

Drops of dew rolling down the eggplant’s deep purple swell 

A single apple being clutched by a little child

A bird sails through the crimson sky beyond Heart Mountain

Yamadera Kasumi 

Having tilled the dewless fields of the plateaus—  

The north wind whips through the night—by morning, all is quiet  

Sparse green peppering the fields, a warm spell in autumn 

Kaihatsu Sōjo† 

The late autumn garden looking quite neglected—

At autumn’s end, my only comfort is debating

The moonlit path, my footsteps the only sound—

Tsuneishi Mutsuki†

A family of us poor farmers all digging for potatoes

Gathering weeds and flowers to decorate the mess hall

Arrived at Heart Mountain, a cold night

Horiuchi Wakako†

Here and there, a late patch of afternoon sun, mountains in winter

In the camp, a single chrysanthemum blooms

Morioka Matsui³

Memories of schoolhouse days, roasting sweet potatoes

Splotches of snow landing on my cloak, the night road

Kanai Tesshū†

Plumes of smoke in a clear blue sky, birds flying south

The passing autumn reflecting clouds, the stillness of the lake

Tonooka Hasen†

A girl’s high-pitched voice as she digs up a potato 

A group of young students cheerily digging up potatoes 

Tsuneishi Shisei

Tumbleweeds—here and there, red flickerings of little birds

A fresh crown of snow on the faraway mountain peak, a bright day

Reading that venerable Meiji songbird by lamplight in autumn

The rich blue sky, snow on a bright, clear day

The recently released mother chasing her child— late autumn