Sensei

[MHenry]

Sensei

Twisted, bound, and clipped
Conscripted in meager plots
Flowering bonsai
Cramped uniformed schoolchildren
Studying kata kana

Sensei eats white rice
Reposed in bamboo cloister
With broken chopsticks
Passed down from great grandfather
Who sat on same mat

Newborn cries for milk
Puckered lips find swollen breast
Sensei's young geisha
Has her mother's piercing eyes
Sensei's slender hands

Cries come from classroom
Bees swarm through open window
Gentle rain outside
Mimics geisha's sullen tears
Lamenting stolen childhood

Sensei slowly stands
Arthritis stabs at old bones
Piercing eyes stab heart
Geisha wishing for his death
Laced his rice with cyanide

Two steps to the door
Sensei collapses face down
Students rush to see
Geisha's daughter, just thirteen
Carries Sensei's unborn child

[RhymeLovingWriter]

Guess that self control didn't extend to all areas, hmmm? Wow MHenry - wonderful tale in tanka form - you've been busy as the proverbial bee with this one! Great job!

[MHenry]

Thanks for the look and the like, RLW.

Maybe Sensei forgot his lesson and misinterpreted self-control as feed thyself and control helpless others

[grant hayes]

This is an impressive tanka string, MHenry: kudos for the virtuosity! The situation involves a classic Henrician turn, although there was a bit more forewarning of this one than is often the case. If you lived in Shakespeare's time, you would be writing tragedies of renowned starkness.

[MHenry]

Thank you, grant, as always, for your kind and laser-like perceptive comments. I spent some extra time on this one in an attempt to fulfill lofty ambitions, but the effort does tire one...