Donko don, don...



first light
the sun 
sound 

wheels
the cobble 
dream

		donko, don 
		donko, don, don...
		faint drum, the dawn.
		
		              won-won!,

An ugly dog-toy
barking about
the dark house.

Papa-san, donko, don.
Mama, donko, don
Paste-ball demons!
Let us sleep! child. Oh, Isamu, 
let us sleep.

Okashi-san, donko don! 
Hush! baby-san let them sleep.
Up now, before the dawn, 

		my little forest bird,
	        don, donko, don, don...

climb
the silk
horse.

dream
the sticky 
shapes

Mount Up! 
We ride! 
                         Don, donko don, don!  

Sweet sticky cakes,
the sleepy perfume
her body makes

 		              don, donko, don, don. 
		              donko, don...


for a sen
you can have the Fox! 
tengu! tengu! little one

		don, donko don, 
		donko, don, don...

in wheat-paste shapes
for a sen,  made
into anything at all.

The warm dough, 
the sweet smell
of penny animals.
                        
				-ko, don, don. Donko don.

The ameya! Isa-amu,
the gluten-man is coming!
He will shape it

into anything,
anything at all.
Sticky stuff,

a wheat-paste 
ball, her silk bed,
for a sen
		
		                          kara, koro, kara
		                     (her clogs on cobble said)

the rabbit comes!        
Wake up We ride! 
mount up!

                       the cobble
                            &the drum

		                          kara, koro, kara... 
		                     donko,  don , don...

hurry now! Don't miss 
the sticky-man's
surprise!
 

			                   donko don, 
			                   donko don, don.

for a penny's worth, 
eyes wide, his knees
clinging to her 
paste-ball hips. 

 

			         kara, koro, kara...
                                     her clogs on cobble said.
					
Quick! put a penny
in his hand.
the silk

	the pleasure
	your thighs
	Tengu! Tengu! 
	There, Isamu, the frog!
			

 			koro, kara, koro...

			
			

Loosen her comb-
the dawn light said,
the shaped black hair
	
&down the cobble road
astride her obi
he would go --

                                the orange dawn,
                                paste-ball hips.
	
Does he have tigers today! 
Eyes big as mill-wheels?
Are there dogs that lap milk?
 
                                &clack, clack
																
like the pigeons feet?
Will there be tengu? 
	   with long crooked noses,
	   sweet and sticky 
	   as mountain rain?

Let me loosen your comb.
Let me brush your thighs, 

Ah! the black mane,
see it tumble down 
the wind
- the song of cobble clogs


			kara, koro, kara ,..., 
			kara, koro, kara.

And dogs! and foxes too?
Will there be tengu,
Mama-san? 

                                Donka, don, donka don, don?
																					 

And Scorpions, and lima beans?
electric cops? prairie plows? 

Mama-san,
where is the boat? Where is Nana?
Must I be me-kakushi  once again?
Must I be
	             the center with the hidden eyes?

Hush now, Isamu, 
Okashi is sleeping.
your papa is working.
Hear his fingers 
tapping out phonemes
on the table.
                          da-dit pa, da-da-dit
				his fingers said.

Close the shoji, Isamu, 
the Inland Sea
is empty.
The ameya 
has gone by...

Have a sweet-cake, 
Isamu/Okashi-san 
is sleeping,

dream
the cobble 
wheels

sound
the sun
first light


		
		don, donko don don...donko...don, ... , donko don...
		 

next poem

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