Haikutimes.com

welcome to the haikutimes

Issue #56, China: Dali, April 14, 2003. Haiku and photographs by jonathan.




4/14 Dali
distant snowcapped peaks
rice fields, cultivated ground
landing in dali

mountains surrounding
red earth and green rice terraces
airport on plateau




door porter yawning
early morning in dali
under silver pearl

red tassel, red string
indicates a single girl
three years hard labor
if you want to marry her




kublai kahn's backyard
man sweeps hoe decisively
colt nuzzles mother

dali street market
bartering and haggling
for silver jewlry




xu xia ke
"chinese marco polo"
ming dynasty

baskets strapped to head
holding squirming piglet pair
and lively rooster




no sign of lovers
who committed suicide
at butterfly spring

cassandra shopping
leaving behind her a wake
of bai shopladies




snow flower
wind moon
on their big hats

scuz in the gullies
indigo dye in the vats
both looking quite blue




locking feet, leaping together
first a bitter tea
to symbolize the struggles
at the start of life

china's vice premier
visits dali, forcing us
to take the back roads




pinching bride and groom
good way to end the wedding
if you are bai

married then divorced
with a war in the middle
the cycle of life




another village
where people worked hard for years
and now we stroll through

4/15 dali chang shan
watermelon juice
frothy amidst flat salt cake
melon flute drones on




slowly up chairlift
past ancestors' tombs and mounds
spreckled with incense

taoist priest smoking
in temple of supreme god,
zhong he shi




taoist deities
scowl from secluded shelter
i leave no incense




above lake erhi
birds sing, chinese loudspeaker
fliters from below




springtime in dali
orange-seated chairlift takes us
soaring above lake




towards the pagodas
we float as if in a dream
on slow moving chair




man chipping a rock
below terraces of tombs
i glide on chairlift




hanoki cypress
at the base of the chang shan
japanese import




while we eat our lunch
man drinks from dragon fountain
unleashing great spit




maid thwarting attempt
to make timely bathroom break
before we rush off





solo/group kukai
drawing/writing/photography
jonathan machen