As luck would have it,… (draft)

 

As luck would have it,

I happened upon a game

Autumn haiku & tanka upon Sakura, Antipodes.

 

 

 

 

By Malachi Doyle

 

 

 

As luck would have it,

I happened upon a game

Autumn haiku & tanka upon Sakura, Antipodes.

By Malachi Doyle

 

Published & Copyright Malachi Doyle 2026.

Blog: https://melfrommelbournemusicwords.blogspot.com/

Insta: @malachidoylemusic

Email: malachijdoyle@gmail.com

ISBN:

 

 

 

What a strange thing!

To be alive

Beneath cherry blossoms.

– Kobayashi Issa (trans. Robert Hass)

 

 

People are suspicious

Understandable

But how then to love?

 

Note:

 

Sakura is both

The name of my companion

& the blossoms of Autumn

One finds if one walks

The streets & alleyways in

Naarm (Wurundjeri Country).

 

Sakura in Naarm

How fresh

Like the first blossoms of Autumn

 

 

Wurundjeri Sakura

The first blossoms of Autumn

How fresh!

 

 

Sakura –

I don’t wish

To change you –

I don’t see

You as a project –

I like you

 

 

Sakura falls rises

I too was born from love

 

 

Sakura –

I bless you

& thank your

Ancestors

 

 

Sakura –

Who knows?

 

The key is we hold onto our centres

The key is we hold onto the centre

 

Balance via the vicissitudes

Balance through the vicissitudes

 

 

Sakura –

Who knows?

Perhaps one day

We will meet again

In Naarm

In Nara?

 

 

Sakura –

I teach

I learn –

 

Sakura –

We maintain/pledge

Our innocence

 

 

Sakura –

Today I am happy

 

 

Sakura –

Today was/is

Wonderful

 

 

Sakura –

Today I write your name

9 times –

 

As the ancients

Passed down

 

 

Sakura –

I am reluctant

To touch myself

Lest I spoil

Things

 

 

 

Sakura –

Even in joy

Fear resides in thought

 

 

 

Sakura –

I’m a ram –

Help me not to rush

& spoil

 

 

Sakura –

Too often

I’ve been rash in control

& left feeling

Empty

& self lacerating

 

 

 

 

Sakura –

Am I your father figure

Or your lover?

Friend

 

 

 

 

What is love?

I feel it often in friendship

& kindness

& invariably

Ruined in partnership –

 

 

 

 

Let us

Both

& each

Be free

 

 

 

 

Sakura –

I am captivated

 

 

 

 

Sakura –

Beauty

& truth

 

 

 

 

Sakura –

I wish to

Lie down

& luxuriate

 

 

 

 

Sakura –

We met

At the

Right time

 

 

 

 

Sakura –

Sign your

Name across

My heart

 

 

 

 

Sakura –

i – ne?

 

 

 

 

Sakura –

Thank you

 

 

 

 

Sakura –

Love/joy resides

In gratitude

 

 

 

 

Sakura –

If I confess

That I’m not a rich man

That will be

Fear talking

 

 

 

 

Sakura –

You make me feel

Brave

 

 

 

 

Sakura –

Being with you

& being away

From you

Is easy

 

 

 

 

Sakura –

Never do

Anything with me

You don’t want to do

 

 

 

 

& I will be

The same

 

 

 

 

Sakura –

Though you are younger

& I am older

Our struggles

Are behind us

 

 

 

 

Sakura –

Neither of us

Will ever be/act

Jealous

 

 

 

 

Sakura –

Writing about

Blossom/ing

Is delightful

 

 

 

 

Sakura –

I love

Life

These days

 

 

 

 

Sakura –

I feel

Young again

& my best

Years

 

 

 

 

Sakura –

Life is a poem

 

 

 

 

I guess,

Sakura –

A poem is living/life

 

 

 

 

Sakura –

Who thought we’d meet

In Autumn?

 

 

 

 

I guess

In Nara now

It is the start

Of Spring

 

 

 

 

Sakura –

Did you know?:

In Naarm

There are 6 seasons

 

 

 

 

Sakura –

I will stop

Writing –

I have written enough –

Good night

 

 

 

 

Sakura –

Thank you –

For this breaking

From the psychodrama

 

 

 

 

Sakura –

Look at us

Not bonding over

Trauma

 

 

 

 

Sakura –

What is there ever

To know?

 

 

 

 

Sakura –

I know enough

 

 

 

 

Sakura –

This day

Will live

Forever

 

 

 

 

In intoxication

Even A.I.

Is wonderful

 

 

 

 

I don’t know

What the translation says –

But you seem to understand –

 

 

 

 

We are happy

 

 

Sakura –

Mixed –

Even cigarettes

Smell good

 

 

 

 

We teach

We learn –

Life is change

 

 

 

 

All poems

Are about

Flowers

 

 

 

 

All poems

Are flowers

 

 

 

 

Let’s be honest

Words get in the way –

But flowers are beyond words

 

 

 

 

Energy

Telepathy

The bush telegraph

 

 

 

 

As Mallarme

Says

Poetry’s about words

Not ideas –

Is it so cut & dry?

 

 

 

 

Sakura duet –

Is your Kanji

Identical?

 

 

 

 

What is identical?

 

Is it openness?

 

 

 

 

The scent

Of Sakura –

Opens

 

 

 

 

I feel changed

Each year

I wither a little in Autumn –

But this year –

Blossoms

 

 

 

 

Sakura –

2^nd & 5^th –

Poetry’s/music’s

Harmony

 

 

 

 

Sakura –

Home

Far from home

 

 

 

 

 

Sakura –

A dream so beautiful –

I lie awake

Awakened

 

 

 

 

 

Sakura 3:45 am –

After 3 hours sleep

I feel/am rested

 

 

 

 

 

Sakura –

A day

A night

 

 

 

 

 

Sakura –

2 halves

 

 

 

 

 

Sakura –

A double

 

 

 

 

 

Sakura –

I guess

You are a twin?

 

 

 

 

 

Is it

So many blossoms? –

My nostrils are full/sated

 

 

 

 

A book

Of poems is born –

Alone/together

In/with

Sakura

 

 

 

 

Sakura –

Autumn blooms

 

 

 

 

Sakura –

Awake

In the middle of the night –

Refreshed

 

 

Fuck ‘Enlightenment’!

 

I was feeling so big & brave. But it was all an act

Of a manic lift.

 

Today I am a small broken wounded animal – shit blood & guts hangin out.

 

Mania oven masks deep depression.

 

No Aboriginal people on the street. Something’s happened.

 

…

--

…

 

I’m sick of positive reframing. Personal happiness is not healing –

It’s ignorant laziness –

 

When we live in genocide.

 

Another woman died.

In solitary confinement.

In ‘custody’.

Like what happens in divorce.

 

–

What is this romanticism, Malachi?

Who dies?

 

Or rather?

Who is murdered?!

How many?!

How long will this go on?!

 

I don’t want no peace

Till woman man get equal rights & justice!

 

--

 

& so

Penniless I beg borrow & steal

Just so I can pay for a date that’s not a date –

 

Tonight I pour one used glass of alcoholic ginger beer into another

 

& piss off people

 

Them proffering smokes ‘given’ between gritted teeth

 

Charm

 

& being ‘charming’

 

When really I’d desecrate my mother’s grave

 

For a thousand dollars

 

Just so I could whore with you, Sakura.

 

In fact, you’re a fuckin kid!

 

& I’m a perv

 

& this is the blooming

 

Of Flowers of Evil.

 

Get thee to a nunnery!

 

You’ve had your last freebee.

 

You owe me money.

 

Now fuck off fresh off the boat.

 

The time has come

 

To pay the rent!

 

With every gift

 

There comes a curse!

 

The world afterall

 

Is at War!

 

We’re just treading water

 

Or walking on water

 

In the eye of the storm.

 

I’ve had enough of ‘healing’

 

I want to walk backwards

 

FOREVER!

 

Don’t be fooled by appearances

 

& manners

 

Everyone is a murderer.

 

Show me the innocent!

 

(Written in luxury in a ‘safe’ place. Dry from the rain. No alcohol around. No cigarettes. No spliff. Dry unlike the homeless. Money Money Money no Money. I make myself sick with our smugness. As Donnie sings “I just wanna have a party – to see what I can kill!” But I’ll go to bed instead & dream of the fiery pits of Hell which will engulf you & me – when the bloodbath is over. Bitta blood & bone. Good fertiliser for the jealous god of flowers – every wife beater’s gift.)

 

 

What a wank!!!!

 

C’est la vie!

 

 

--

 

Published & Copyright Malachi Doyle 2026.