"Coming and Going"

Poets are invited to respond to this boast-shaped stone from the Tama River in Japan. It was given the poetic name “Coming and Going” because the contemporary base, made by Japan’s Harda Kuzu, creates the impression of movement as in water flowing around a ship as it plows forward. 


seal in the water 

always seems to come and go...

plows forward today 


Pat Geyer, US

as the cradle rocks

heavenly music flows…

          

Hema Ravi, India 

in the silence between

ebb and flow

a poem is born


Hema Ravi, India

crescent moon

ploughing through storm clouds

my stream of thoughts


James Young, UK

starboard

a marlin’s story etched

on the old man’s boat


Margaret Tau, US

a stone seashell -

from the darkness within

floating shadows


Zvonko Jurčević, Croatia 

the autumn river

meets the sea coming

and going all day long


David McMurray, Japan

complete silence

doesn't stop time -

everything flows


Wiesław Karliński, Poland

forced migration

the rough edges

of a new moon


Hifsa Ashraf, Pakistan 

dinghy on shore

the mother cradles

her hungry child


Hifsa Ashraf, Pakistan

after the storm…

the empty fishing boat 

drifting aimlessly


Natalia Kuznetsova, Russia

the river Styx -

Charon and his boat

never idle


Natalia Kuznetsova, Russia

the river current

on an outside curve

runs faster…

paddling upstream

I steer the slow path


Marilyn Humbert, Australia

hammock in the palms—

afloat on the horizon

the moon like a boat


Monica Kakkar, India and US

two decades apart… 

will an upcoming bowstring

mirror Half Moon Bay?


Monica Kakkar, India and US

from a shikārā

crow crowing in a moon night—

the din on the Dal


Monica Kakkar, India and US

the gentle

squeaking sound

still it retains

muse of the breeze

the childhood memories


Pravat Kumar Padhy, India 

never returning 

the early boomerang 

not aerodynamic 


Tracy Davidson, UK

sinking boat 

another seal 

caught in the oil slick 


Tracy Davidson, UK

the next shore

evergreen wafting

over the bow

         

Lorraine A. Padden, USA

flowing water...

I gaze in wonder

at the autumn moon 

         

Neena Singh, India

sepia light

the empty boat fills 

with your fragrance:

         

Neena Singh, India

one by one

we come and depart

crossing over

this dewdrop world

empty-handed

            

Neena Singh, India