“pick one, / let’s have it for dinner”
(hitotsu moide gohan ni shyou)
This etegami features a curvaceous butternut squash I had for dinner recently. The heat of summer must have me pinning for autumnal flavors.
The words are from haiku poet and Buddhist monk Santoka, a poet from the early 20th century. I love Burton Watson’s collection of Santoka’s verse and diary entries, For all my walking, published in 2003; I found this poem in his book. He notes that Santoka was talking about a citron in the poem, but I only had a butternut squash.
I don’t like my Japanese writing — I’ve been so neglectful of writing in Japanese that the awkwardness is evident. Luckily, this is etegami so awkwardness is good!
etegamist 