translated poetry by david trinidad

from Sleeping with Bashō

After the Orgy

Time to go home— but I’m too tangled up in the cherry tree to move.

*

Samurai as Mountain

His sword is a sunlit line of summer trees. The tassel at his hip, a waterfall.

*

Burn After Reading

With regret, I threw your letter into the autumn leaves.

David Trinidad’s most recent book is Digging to Wonderland: Memory Pieces (Turtle Point Press, 2022).  His other books include Swinging on a Star (2017), Notes on a Past Life (2016), and Peyton Place: A Haiku Soap Opera (2013).  He currently lives in Chicago.