Last night I was nursing a drink after everyone had gone to bed, listening with the window open to the night music. I jotted this down:
to the night insects
they’re awake too
This has been a mental exhausting week. This and last. Busy busy time. Don’t get me wrong — busy is good when you own your own business and means money is coming in, but it does mean almost no time for anything else.
It’s a funny kind of tiredness. Not physically tired, so there is no ability — nor even much of a desire — to go to sleep as soon as possible. But with the brain fried, any kind of mental activity is out the window.
I’m not a big drinker these days, but on days like this I’ll nurse a beer or a glass of sake as I just sit and listen to… well, whatever there is to listen to.
On this night, that happened to be the night insects as they went about their nightly song. During the day and early evening, the cicada tend to overpower the rest, but after sunset you can start to hear more of the other insects.
It was a productive night for haiku. I wrote down several actually. Maybe I’ll share some of the others in the future.
— Tenjōka
P.S., To my friends reading, sorry I probably haven’t commented on your posts much this week. It’s all I can do to make time to get my post up. I’ll try to catch up on the weekend.
❦
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David is an American teacher and translator lost in Japan, trying to capture the beauty of this country one photo at a time and searching for the perfect haiku. He blogs here and at laspina.org. Write him on Bluesky. |