Barrie Kemp/United Kingdom

The Sea

The sea is a nomad

Wandering from land to land

Destined never to rest in pools

Or to find eternal calm.

The sea is pushed and pulled

By the moon, the wind and sun

Unseen forces that drag

Saltwater onto terra firma.

Tim Taylor/United Kingdom

Mountain Mist

The mist clings to me as I walk,

dotting my skin with gems of cold.

To left and right

there should be peaks and plunging valleys,

but I see nothing that I cannot touch.

Upon this open mountainside

Dennis Tomlinson/United Kingdom

By the Itterbeek

a slow weedy stream

      a heron rises

crosses my gravelly path

flies through leaning oaks

      to land

steps through green pasture

Sagawa Aki/Japan

Soul Diver

            

I dive into the human sea-bottom

I search for a soul like a clear pearl

An extraordinary secretion inside the shell-body

Guarded by the hands of a water nymph

Distorted yet brilliant

Resembling the softness of white flesh

Its core the trematode in ancient darkness

Its kernel a nothing grain of sand

Park Nohae/Republic of Korea

Once Again

A person full of hope

is already hope.

A person seeking the way

is already a new way.

A truly good person

is already a good world.

John Solt/USA

untitled

after we met 

i turned

into a moth

approached the light

and burned up

you were worth it

ONAI Kotaro/Japan

No-tell hotel

As Sunday comes to close

I open the curtains in the south-facing room

From my chair

I can watch the no-tell hotel on the beach

Against a backdrop of darkness

Stirred by the heat

Misako Yarita/Japan

Distant Memory

Right now, I am strolling along the green sidewalks of Gaien Nishi Dori Avenue. I am 80 centimeters tall and proud of my long legs and pure white fur. I am called Borzoi, which means agile in Russian. However, I walk very slowly to keep up with my two males of the human animal followers. People say I'm proud, but I'm not like common dogs, so it's only natural. The memories that linger in my blood from my ancestors are vivid. I ran around in all directions chasing rabbits in the snowfield as far as the eye can see.I was also very good at zigzag running. I even competed with horses controlled by humans, and I could run long distances with ease. The sky and forests were big. I could see the frozen city of Petersburg in winter and the Neva River from the back of my eyes.

Chikae Taniguchi/Japan

The Bellybutton

Since having had that cord cut

I had to start being myself

Driven by the first breath

Breathing hard with all my might

I finally found my voice, and began to speak

I can’t expose my bellybutton to the public

John Smith/UK (England)

Summer Morning

(Reflection on 'Summer Evening' a sonnet by John Clare)

In the dew, footprints marked by silver jewels,

Lightfoot pads gently, raising paw to pose

boldly by the meadow's edge and views

the land and sniffs the breeze with wrinkled nose.

Below the pond the iris banks, plashed white and gold

half-hide the chicken coop, shut tight