2 poems in Weekend Australian Review
T
he Review magazine, published by and distributed with the Weekend Australian newspaper, published two of Andrew’s poems last weekend, 25-26 March 2017. Both poems, “Kilter” and “Untrousered Tanuki” , are gunsaku, sets of haiku linked by common subjects/themes.
“Untrousered Tanuki” is a set of humorous haiku about the ceramic racoon-dogs called tanuki (pictured below) that abound in gardens and doorways in the Kansai region of Japan. Andrew has seen (and photographed!) hundreds of these scoundrels in Kyoto and Nara during several visits there with his wife, Susan.
Photograph (above): Tanuki in Arashiyama © Andrew Lansdown
Untrousered Tanuki
Concerning the ceramic racoon dogs of Kyoto
i
Hey, tanuki,
did you model your bulges
on a sumo’s?ii
Your bamboo hat’s
tremendous, tanuki, but
where are your daks?iii
‘Have some decorum,’
a sumo tells a tanuki—
‘cover your scrotum!’iv
The expression
‘privates’, tanuki, is common
for good reason.v
Even a flasher,
tanuki, doesn’t expose
himself forever!vi
Tanuki anthem—
Joe Cocker’s jaunty song, ‘You
can leave your hat on.’
© Andrew Lansdown
