"Three Demons": Sanki Haiku I
- "Three Demons":Sanki Haiku I
Money
Flesh-colored spring
moon, flaringabove the graves.
Hitched
to the North Star, thepillar of ice grows fat.
Airstrip, yellowing,
terminates in the winter
sea.
Cold seas
Pilot and dog Frolicthrough dead grass
fields
androll around. [End Page 57]
Right eye
Winter sea
Angryabout money, sweat
dripson dirt. [End Page 58]
Sanki Saitō (1900–1962) was a Japanese writer, most famous for his haiku, which he began writing in his thirties while practicing dentistry, and for which he was imprisoned during the Second World War. His four major collections are Flags (1940), Night Peaches (1948), Today (1952), and Transformations (1962). "Sanki" is a nom de plume that means "three demons."
Ryan C. K. Choi is a writer, translator, composer, and musician. He was born in Honolulu, Hawaii, and educated at the University of Pennsylvania. His work appears or is forthcoming in Harvard Review, Kyoto Journal, New York Tyrant, Brooklyn Rail, and River Styx.
