As editor of Blithe Spirit I have set my readers a challenge for the next issue.

I want them to include a couple of poems inspired by encounters of a cultural nature. The idea was Ian Turner's originally, but I thought it might be interesting to see where it took people.

At the moment it seems that painting is the main inspiration.

Anyway, I've just written my contribution - by no means anywhere near the best. I was just flipping through my Cor van den Heuvel haiku anthology when the inspiration hit:


Hokusai bookmark
with every page
a tsunami