Aki Basho 2017 Honour Tanka Day 9: CHIYOTAIRYU (7-2)

(slo-mo oh no Onosho)

western digital 

commentary on sumo 

unnecessary 

adding to self-important 

canon through tanka is too 

my love for sumo 

need not this expression to 

be validated 

my love is perhaps fetish, 

tasting foreign big boy sport 

“I enjoy sumo” 

from sheltered confines trillion 

terabytes away 

an excuse to create gifs, 

practice weak poetic forms 

still though, I ask you 

to regard Yung Onosho, 

this basho’s upstart 

three makuuchi into 

his rapid (college boy) rise 

this basho appeared 

to be potentially his… 

LOOK OUT ONOSHO! 

BEWARE CHIYOTAIRYU’S 

IMMEDIATE SLAPBOXING! 

(fifteen bouts broken 

into five-bout trimesters - 

energetic’ly) 

(it takes stubborn solid three - 

connecting the trinity) 

Onosho did not 

look out day nine, and he got 

slapped back down to Earth 

Chiyotairyu palm thrust 
way into my heart (today) 

[full bout if you so desire]

M4RBL3 M4RK3RS F0R K1DS T00

marble markers for kids too

young to have gotten named in

abandoned cemetery

SW1MM1NG THR0VGH 0XYC0D0N3...

swimming through oxycodone

fog in the upstairs back room,

lights (real and metaphor) dimmed

TH3 4SS0RT3D H13R0GLYPHS...

the assorted hieroglyphs

accumulated upon

industrial canvasses

Aki Basho 2017 Honour Tanka Day 8: TAKEKAZE (2-6)

(the full bout, in gif)

old Takekaze 

cracks me up, losing in most 

spectacular ways 

NEVER GET DEMOTED, 

TAKEKAZE; (retire first) 

old rikishi who 

lack credentials for elder 

status - what happens? 

I hope old Takekaze 

wanders abandoned forests 

I hope he talks with 

crows, and learns their mystery 

polymath language 

I hope he practices deep green 

wizardry, blessing the woods

Aki Basho 2017 Honour Tanka Day 7: TAKANOIWA (5-2)

(slow motion absorption of open handed slaps)

a glorious day 

seven slobberknocker with 

vicious slaps galore 

Takanoiwa absorbed 

attacking energies well 

resilient big 

boy in the true big boy sport - 

sumo, ya bitches 

after slapfest was over, 

Takanoiwa waited 

when Kagayaki 

fell forward with a feeble 

attack - game over 

Takanoiwa tossed my 

boy, then stood victorious 

(watch full video, 

and see him twist his face like 

“damn, motherfucker”) 

(still though, “damn, motherfucker” 
with those bonus envelopes) 

[full match below, had to google in Japanese again, 

internet gentrification creates western hegemony]

TH3 S4DN3SS 0F 3NSL4V3D C0RN...

the sadness of enslaved corn,

forced into robotic rows,

spliced of all feral spirit

DR34MS 0F 0P3R4T1NG 4...

dreams of operating a

halal goat kebob food truck,

with homemade doogh recipe

M3CH4N1C4L R3S1ST4NC3...

mechanical resistance

to trends in consumption -

living that late model life

freestyle sonnet #096: MUNDANE LIFE OF BOREDOM

Quick cheap fast sonnet torn from stream of conscious since 

day is full of mundane (fool Monday) and this work 

I waste my hours (life) with... when I think causes wince 

as hopelessness winches death closer, little perk 

to step through bureaucratic labyrinth heavy 

with devils angling passive aggressions at all 

times. Fact of the matter is I'm shitty Chevy 

Monte Carlo Supersport with less punch than stall, 

sitting on three Daytons and a donut, riding 

with little confidence through realm of leased Benzes. 

I'm minimum payment in maxed out World, sliding 

down actual wealth chart, in shit-tinted lenses, 

being instructed to see myself as success, 

while suffering somewhat relentless mundane duress. 

S3C0ND-H4ND F4SH10N S3NS3 BV1LT...

second-hand fashion sense built

piece by piece from various

sources, learning to make do

GVNS N' R0S3S P4T13NC3 L0VD...

Guns n' Roses' "Patience" loud

as fuck on Sunday morning,

gone from nowhere to nowhere

Aki Basho 2017 Honour Tanka Day 6: ICHINOJO (4-2)

(had too google using Japanese for this clip)

an underwhelming 

basho thus far, though perhaps 

life’s what underwhelms 

boredom and failure demons 

circling, awaiting doomed flesh 

“idle hands are the 

devil’s playground” - biblical 

quote I imagine 

not one for reading bibles, 

was raised firm sensualist 

work is meaningless, 

and home is obligated 

entirely to work 

both hours and money wasted 

chasing unattainable 

foreign digital 

distractions (sumo, football) 

do little to help 

A: what the fuck is the point? 

B: if no point, what to do? 

life is too much like 

this day six Ichinojo - 

Kagayaki bout 

life is like Ichinojo, 

clutching, in fact crushing you 

with relentless grip, 

it weighs against you; you think 

“how do I get free?” 

the weight doesn’t ease enough 

for obvious opening 

finally, you think 

in frustration, “fuck it, I’m 

gonna make my move” 

soon as you do, relentless 

unforgiving life throws you 

lying in a heap 

(yet again), you look up, and 

wonder what the fuck 

there is no answer, no point - 
it is endless (yet, you’re not) 

Aki Basho 2017 Honour Tanka Day 5: HARUMAFUJI (2-3)

(another "damn" moment for Harumafuji)

Aki basho day 

five full of eventful bouts, 

none more so than main 

five maegashira came 

in day five undefeated 

one-by-one, they fell; 

Kotoshogiku had been 

early basho star 

having beaten multiple 

high-ranked rikishi up top 

but wily Shodai 

survived Kotoshogiku’s 

first battering ram 

Kotoshogiku took first 

loss, levelling leaderboard 

crowd energy for 

this bout alone was six 

and three-quarter stars 

no cushions thrown, but the thought 

floated in the air - mind smoke 

Chiyotairyu - 

also undefeated - took 

his first loss as well 

opponent Goeido’s 

pre-bout psychology strong 

Goeido got 

Chiyotairyu out his 

own head - a wonder 

once bout finally started, 

Chiyotairyu charged strong 

Goeido took the 

energy backwards until 

hitting the ring’s edge 

turning, he nudged the charging 

energy into the sand 

but the main event, 

lone yokozuna, old mean 

Harumafuji 

opposite was Onosho 

a young gun coming up fast 

Onosho so young 

he’d never yet earned kinboshi 

(yokozuna win) 

but Onosho’s not afraid, 

holding self as belonging 

Harumafuji

seemed off-balance quickly, still 

chasing Onosho 

Onosho tossed his elder - 

rare yokozuna flippage 

with all those absent, 

we’ve wondered “who will seize this 

opportunity?” 

perhaps Aki basho shall 

be Onosho’s first glory 

as for upper end 

of banzuke scroll, this has 

been real tough basho 

Harumafuji should be 

representing top sumo 

yokozuna and 

ozeki injured galore, 

banzuke scroll wrecked 

and yet Harumafuji 
looks out of place, un-hungry 

(the full bout below should you care)

4PP3T1T3 F0R D3STRVCT10N...

appetite for destruction

got me going eighty-five

halfway through Indiana

H1GH M1L34G3 V3H1CL3S F1ND...

high mileage vehicles find

penultimate demise with

me - craigslist "or best offer"

PVRPL3 ST3NC1LS 0F R4V3N...

purple stencils of raven

heart berserker emblems sown

wherever strange man has walked

PL4ST1C1Z3D P30PL3 P33R1NG...

plasticized people peering

into their smartphone mirrors,

lacking real self-reflection

Aki Basho 2017 Honour Tanka Day 4: TAMAWASHI (2-2)

(slow-monoii replay of the finish)

internet dorks make 

big deal of “bizarre basho”, 

but hey, that is sport 

but organized sport is just 

bizarre human spectacle 

as much performance 

as competition - nowhere 

truer than sumo 

so what three yokozuna 

are out, plus an ozeki 

where’s stubborn gaiman, 

that cherished Japanese trait 

of persevering? 

of ignoring injury 

and continuing to fight 

my friend, I tell you, 

look no further than blowed out 

foot Tamawashi 

two days ago, he battled 

(and injured) Takayasu 

Tamawashi’s right 

ankle twisted in awful 

godforsaken which ways 

Takayasu got 

carted into gone fusen; 

not Tamawashi 

yesterday, he could 

barely walk, but still came out, 

walking gingerly 

Onosho was merciless, 

as one would expect with this 

day four, again comes 

Tamawashi, refusing 

to accept his pain 

facing Mitakeumi, 

the young sumo sensation 

eight previous times, 

Tamawashi never beat 

Mitakeumi 

on one solid ankle though, 

he launches full-blast day four 

Mitakeumi slides back, 

hits the edge, twists opponent 

Mitakeumi 

makes desperate effort to 

flip Tamawashi 

it works - both men going down 

in heap of fat but thick flesh 

gyoji (the ref) 

points his official fan at 

Mitakeumi 

but there is question, so the 

ringside judges all confer 

upon review, right foot 

of Mitakeumi 

stomps out before fall 

one-ankled Tamawashi 

has stubbornly persisted 

two wins two losses 

after four days - not front page 

sports section headline 

but his fighting spirit’s strong - 

nothing bizarre in sumo 

let the injured quit - 

justified or not; stubborn 

warriors will fight on 

perhaps humans will soon face 

cataclysmic world events 

who will be the few 

who survive? those who possess 

the most stubborn will 

there’s nothing to save up for - 
death could arrive any day 

WH3R3 0NC3 W4S 4 FL34 M4RK3T...

where once was a flea market

now an abandoned nothing;

second level of downturn

S4T3LL1T3 TR4NSM1SS10NS 0F...

satellite transmissions of

lounge counteracting against

cybertron unlounge forces