Eighteen

十余り八つ

Eighteen

‘Keep kata as they are without embellishing them.’ Yasutsune Itosu. ‘..In actual combat, it will not do to be hampered by the rituals of kata. Instead, the practitioner should transcend kata, moving freely according to the opponent’s strengths and weaknesses.’

Breathe, connect to loved ones

Seize the immediate air that may be the last

Commit utterly to destruction: combat.

 

As different as a tsunami

To the surface of a Scots pine forest pond-kata and combat.

 

Inner or outer audience for your kata

It is a beauty of being, a life

That begins and begins with a bow

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January

A piece from Temples fae Creels (Kettionlia) slightly changed.

Oor hoose on Shore Road

Wis aye spuckled in spray

Fae waves that ripped san

Aff protective rock skerries.

 

Reek trails fae the Lothian side

Wid hing aboot Cockenzie

The power station

Opposite Fife’s gowden beach mantle;

Ony windae wis guid.

 

January wis special-waves

Slammin intae the herbour waas

Muckle white flares hingin

Afore rainin doun lik lava:

January ragin.

 

 

The Robin Kata

Often he spins up to be spider-bird

Watching vertically poised above his planet

A metre over me on the wall.

 

Be it Jitte or Jiin or washing perhaps Gis out for drying

The wee chest marks a wound of flight on fence or ground.

 

Like each performance of a Sochin or Empe

Different robins dance or move to a unique internal barometer.

 

Later reflect on the arrogance of the human

That it is nature that watches us, our dance our imperfections.