umbrellas

Tokyo post typhoon 2011

Piles of umbrellas

kasa, para aqua

with broken ribs

greenstick fractures

of silver shafts

lean against telegraph poles

or tied in bundles 

by earnest city

workers in green

and yellow anoraks.

Bones broken against 

Temple Walls, the base 

of bloodless Torii jammed 

against a village of coca cola

vending machines. 

Where does this city bleed 

or is it done with blood? 

broken arrows from the bows 

of performing monks on horseback, 

racing time in the shadow 

of Kamakura’s Buddha,

miss their targets 

at point-blank range.