hospital window ---
sun and birdsong bubble-wrapped
in anaesthetics
such warping of the mind
to mend an ailing body

three little words
tossed across the seas
on my screen
his message lights up
a cold wet spring

so much weed
tuts my green-fingered neighbour
how can I explain  
while the garden goes to seed
a tanka or more grows 

Sonam Chhoki was born and brought up in the eastern Kingdom of Bhutan. She has been writing the Japanese short forms for about 5 years. She finds these poetical forms resonate with her own Tibetan Buddhist culture.