Scott Galasso

---

Kobe


Twenty seconds
years of labor,
lives undone

Elastic, that bridge
of concrete and steel,
the best laid plans

Kobe, Kobe
beneath the rubble
broken dreams

After the quake
yesterday's homeless
joined by today's

A cup of water
a bowl of rice
no rich, no poor

Beyond hope
a scratching sound
. . . sunrise

Tolling the bell
for each lost soul
five thousand times


Copyright 1995, Scott Galasso


Scott Galasso is the author of five books of poetry. His work has appeared in
Northwest Literary Forum, Poets On, and Color Wheel. His haiku has been
published in England, Japan, Canada, New Zealand, Croatia, and Romania. His
latest book, a collection of haiku and senryu entitled Vermilion Falling, was
published in March 1994.