Improv(ising) - Week 4

River by Shuntaro Tanikawa

Contemporary World Poetry

     Mother,
     Why is the river laughing?

Why, because the sun is ticking the river.

    Mother,
    Why is the river singing?

Because the skylark praised the river’s voice.

    Mother,
   Why is the river cold?

It remembers being once loved by the snow.

     Mother,
     How old is the river?

It’s the same age as the forever young springtime.
     Mother
     Why does the river never rest?

Well, you see it’s because the mother sea
is waiting for the river to come home.

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    Santa,

    Where have your reindeer gone?

Why, they’ve gone away on holiday.

    Santa,

    Where did they go?

They flew away to Neverland.

     Oh.

     Santa,

     How old are you?

I’m younger than the Dalai Lama but not quite as old as a unicorn.

    Santa,

    Are there unicorns in Neverland?

Certainly, they like it there much better than here.

 

     Santa,

    Are the reindeer friends with the llama?

Ah, yes. They invite him to play all their games.

     That’s good.

     Santa,

     What do you want for Christmas?

Well,  no one has ever asked me that before

but now that you ask I would have to say…