Andrew Lansdown: Two Poems
Of Maples and …
1
Monks
Japanese maples,
moved by awful sympathy
for Tibetan monks,
are immolating themselves
beside the Buddhist temples.
2
Mothers
As if they, too, were
beseeching the Bosatsu
to save their children,
the maples adorn the worn
Jizo stones with blood-red bibs.
3
Marxists
Mao’s cadres wore
red stars on their uniforms.
With similar stars
the maples memorialise
the millions whom they murdered.
Andrew Lansdown
4
Martyrs
i.m. the 26 Nagasaki Martyrs, 1597
Shogunal maples
are stakes with copious flames:
all that is needed
to complete their purpose is
some Kirishitans for burning.
5
Messiah
Commemorating
Christ’s agony in the grove
of Gethsemane,
the maples model their leaves
on the splashes of His blood.
Windbells at Fushimi Inari Shrine
1
Beckoning
A shop at the shrine
selling big-tailed stone foxes
and toy-sized torii
has a dangle of windbells,
all dinging with the wind’s…
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