Halloween Haibun

Witch-walking

I saw my granddad strolling up ahead and tried to mimic his walk: the rhythm of his stride, the swing of arms - how he held his head, shaped his hands - and in the moment that I had it I found myself inside his eyes, his length of spine. In shock I stopped and broke the spell, and as I stopped he stumbled, fell. As he rose he saw me standing there, came to me and, telling me "Never do that again," took my hand and walked me home.

a bird's skull:
from its sockets
I see me looking

The Night She Died

I woke in the night and saw her on the landing at the top of the stairs, standing in the darkness with a stillness that seemed to slow everything down. Although she was just a silhouette, I knew it was Mrs. Hall; despite that she seemed so strangely tall, her head nearly touching the ceiling. Against the pull of fear, I pushed myself to get up and make my way to my parents' bedroom. I felt her watching me, but she did not move. At the landing, I edged sideways along the wall, reaching beside me for the handle of my parents' door. The silence and the shadows were broken by light and the noise of my baby sister crying, my parents yelling at each other. Mum noticed me in the doorway and shouted at me to get back to bed; I burst into tears and cried out that Mrs. Hall was on the stairs. Dad looked around the house but there was nobody there. It was only a dream they assured me. Next day Mrs. Hall was found hanging through the attic space at the top of her stairs, her smothered baby shrouded in a sheet. We were moved into her house a few months later. When I saw Mrs. Hall on the night that she died, it wasn't to be the last time I'd see her.

candle smoke
from a pumpkin smile:
darkened eyes

'Witch-walking' and 'The Night She Died' first appeared in World Haiku Review, January 2011

VI: The Lovers

"The only thing I ever got from you,"
he sang along to Bowie in his headphones:
"Is sorrow"
sang the blond-haired girl beside him;

"Sorrow"
they sang together, looked at each other
and smiled.

Tarot Senryu: Popesse, Juggler, Fool.

The cleric cries:
She is all that faith denies!
Curse her, and her kind.

A wizard, this player:
he'll make a penny a pound
of nothing.

A pound of nothing
is a heavy burden:
Poor fool -- stripped of all.

La Pances - The Belly (The Church)

J'a

J'ai touz jors engraisse ma pance

D'autrui chateil, d'autrui sustance:

Ci a boen clerc, a miex mentir!

All my days I have filled my belly

With others' wealth, with others' goods:

An honest cleric, the best of liars!

La Repentance Rutebeuf, 13th cent.

there was evening --
stars eclipsed by thunderclouds,
and there was mourning:
one more day and god alone
who saw that it was good


A little bit of Turkish: Akşam (Evening) Karşı (Opposite, Contrary, Against) Gitmek (to go), Tan (Dawn) Yatmak (to lie down, rest, go to bed, pass the night, be imprisoned) -me/ma (suffix of negation)


Akşama karşı gitme, tana karşı yatma.
Go not against the evening, lie not against the dawn.

doggy-style dowry:
unable to face the nose
she paid through


A little bit of Turkish: Burun (Nose)
Kılavuzu karga olanın burnu boktan çıkmaz.
If your guided by crows you'll end up with your nose in shit.

Kupa Ası (Ace of Cups)
A little bit of Turkish: Sirke (vinegar) Bal (Honey) Sinek (Fly, the suit of Clubs in a pack of french suited playing cards) Kupa (Cup, Goblet, Trophy; the suit of Hearts in a pack of french suited playing cards)

Bir fıçı sirkeden ziyade bir damla bal ile sinek tutulur. 
One drop of honey is worth more than a vat of of vinegar to catch a fly.


The image of the Ace of Cups above is from a 1910 pack of tarot cards produced by Pamela Colman Smith for Arthur Edward Waite. For a modern reproduction I recommend the Pamela Colman Smith Commemorative Set.

Para Beşlisi (Five of Coins)
A little bit of Turkish: Olmak (to be) Etmek (to do, make; to be worth, to amount to) -sız (meaning 'without' ) -mez (suffix of negation)

beş parasız - lit. without five pennies, fig. penniless
beş paralık olmak/etmek - lit. to be/to do five pennies worth, fig. to expose shameful secrets
beş para etmez - lit. not worth five pennies, fig. of something that is trashy, worthless.


The image of the Five of Coins above is from a 1910 pack of tarot cards produced by Pamela Colman Smith for Arthur Edward Waite. For a modern reproduction I recommend the Pamela Colman Smith Commemorative Set.

Encased within the barber's cape my eyes fall heavy beneath the soothing stroke of brush and fingers and I am immersed in the vibrations of the buzzing clippers, the swift snip and snap of scissors tap-tapping against the teeth of comb, the puppetry of hand and head as he shapes me for the scrape of the razor, the intimate trimming of eyebrows, ears and nose. A flick of flame and smell of burning hair lift me out of my submersion. "Tamam?" he asks. "Çok iyi" I reply, "çok iyi".

clipped peeks

of the barber's bum

in the mirror

A little bit of Turkish: Berber (Barber) Ucun (the tip, end) -dan (suffix meaning from) Az (Little)


Ucundan azıcık
At the barber's "just a trim'.


lit. 'a little from the tip.'


Outside of the barbershop the phrase may cause some hilarity, not sure why, but I suspect it has something to do with circumcision.

Para Onlusu (Ten of Coins/Money)
A little bit of Turkish: Mutluluk (Happiness, Well-being, Bliss) Zenginlik (Wealth, Prosperity, Riches) Aptal (Fool, Stupid, Idiot, Dumb) Rüyalar (Dreams) Bilge (Wise, Sage)

Zenginlik aptal rüyalar; Bilge bir adam, mutluluk.
A fool dreams of wealth; a wise man of happiness.


An alternative name for the Ten of Coins in Turkish:
Tılsımlar Onlusus - Ten of Talismans
The term 'tılsımlar' (talismans) is used on some RWS decks (and its clones) as a translation of 'pentacles'.


The image of the Ten of Pentacles above is from a 1910 pack of tarot cards produced by Pamela Colman Smith for Arthur Edward Waite. For a modern reproduction I recommend the Pamela Colman Smith Commemorative Set.

Dragons

My dragon’s woken up again,

and grown very big.

It’s riding on the hand-wagon

slick with oil and spit —

a genie from its bottle moans

do it do it DO IT!

My dragon’s woken up again,

and eager to dig: 

to bury stones like dogs with bones

(marrow sucked — flesh ripped).

In blood and dung the bottle, warmed,

is cracked: the genie… SPLIT.

A little bit of (rude) Turkish: Ejderha (lit. Dragon, fig. slang for Penis) Şişe (lit.Bottle, fig. slang for Anus)
El arabası (wheelbarrow, trolley, hand wagon/cart - 'to ride the hand-wagon' slang for masturbation) Fondip (lit. from the bottom, in drinking games, to drink a shot in one go; in sexual slang 'do it' (f**k me))

Benim ejderham, yine uyandı var

ve çok büyük büyüdü. 

O el arabası biniyor 

yağlı ve şiş ile kaygan - 

onun şişeden bir cin inliyor 

fondip fondip fondip!


A little bit more turkish: Şiş (Spit, Swollen, Skewer) Yağ (Oil) 
Inlemek (to moan) Yine (Again)

Kupa Dokuzlusu (Nine of Cups)
A little bit of Turkish: Iyi (Good, Fine, Well) Olmak (to be)

The latin suit of cups may be related to the french suit of hearts, and thus the nine of cups to the nine of hearts, known as the wish card in cartomancy. 

Iyi diyelim iyi olalım

"Wish well, be well." May be related to ideas of affirmation, positive thinking.

lit. Let's say well (good, fine) and be well. Used as a response to the enquiry 'nasılsınız?' ('how are you?') and akin to the English response 'mustn't grumble'.

The image of the Nine of Cups above is from a 1910 pack of tarot cards produced by Pamela Colman Smith for Arthur Edward Waite. For a modern reproduction I recommend the Pamela Colman Smith Commemorative Set.

A little bit of Turkish: Anahtar (Key) Kapı (Door) Altın (Gold) Büyük (Big) Küçük (Small) Açık (Open)

Altın anahtar her kapıyı açar.

The golden key opens every door.

Her kapının bir anahtarı vardır.

For every door there is a key.

Küçük anahtar büyük kapı açar.

A small key opens a big door.


The image of the pope above is from the Tarot de Paris: a deck from Paris made in the first half of the 17th century by an unknown cardmaker.

A little bit of Turkish: Bal (Honey) Parmak (Finger/Toe) Yalamak (to lick) Tutmak (to hold)

Bal tutan parmak yalar.

Who holds honey, licks fingers.

The image of The Empress above is from a 1910 pack of tarot cards produced by Pamela Colman Smith for Arthur Edward Waite. For a modern reproduction I recommend the Pamela Colman Smith Commemorative Set.