japanese lesson

by Robert Lax

a man

hung a

shingle

outside

his house

that said

lessons

in how

to be

japan

ese

he taught

his students

to arrange

flowers

to pour

tea

to speak

japanese,

of course,

to write

haiku

to open

fans

to close

parasols

& to

walk

a tight

wire

this is

all eas

ier for

you than

it is

for us,

said one

of the

students,

being

japanese

yourself

actually

i’m not

said the

man

i’m a

swede

but my

teacher

was jap

anese

From Poems (1962–1997), Seattle, Washington: Wave Books, 2013, pages 163–165. This poem dates from 1970. Two other selected haiku-like poems by Lax include “winter wind the cock crow quavers” and “whips across the walk & up the wall bird shadow,” though Lax lineates the poems in his distinctive vertical way. In The Way of the Dreamcatcher, S. T. Georgiou quotes Lax as saying “With regard to literary influences, Haiku showed me how minimal text can have maximum effect.” In Lax’s Journals, he writes “trying to find the / one safe spot in the / galaxy // in which to / hide his / haiku.”       +       +