Tuesday, December 4, 2012

Carpe Diem #62, Bed Bugs (watamushi)

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Dear Haijin, visitors and travelers,

Today a kind of dirty prompt ... Bed Bugs (watamushi) ... in the time of our classical haiku poets a very common insect. Fleas and Lice   were very common than. Watamushi means also Cotton Fly, a little insect that's living on cotton plants and sometimes in cotton clothes. All insects you don't want to deal with I think.

So here it goes ... writing haiku on a bed bug ... hm ... not easy I think, but of course I have to do this.

First I have an example of a modern haiku poet Narayanan (one of the hosts of Wonder Haiku Worlds ):

bed bugs again?
where were they hiding
all these days?

(c) Narayanan


Watamushi (cottonfly)


Matsuo Basho wrote this one on 'bed bugs':

eaten alive by
lice and fleas - now the horse
beside my pillow pees

(c) Matsuo Basho (1644-1694)

Or what do you think of this one by Buson, our Special haiku master for this month:

picking off his lice
a beggar's wife
under a plum tree

(c) Yosa Buson (1716-1783)

Bed Bugs huh I don't like them at all, but it's a joy to play the game 'Bed Bugs':


I don't know if I can write a haiku about bed bugs ... well let's go ...

sleepy head
scratching his legs
bitten by bedbugs

Well ... I hope you don't have bedbugs ... but I hope you are inspired by this prompt. Have fun and share your haiku on Carpe Diem.

This prompt will stay on 'till December 6th 11.59 AM (CET) and I will post our first Carpe Diem Special later on today around 10.00 PM (CET).

This is the haiku by Buson which I will use for this first Carpe Diem Special:

mandarin duck -
rain falls silently
from an oak


(tr. Chèvrefeuille)



5 comments:

  1. This prompt bugs me little. Enjoyed your post. I can see its a winter word, confined as we might be under dirty blankets bugged by bugs. Thank you for the prompt.

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  2. I had to think on this prompt for about 24 hours and research bedbugs before I could write anything. I threw out about a half dozen attempts before settling two.

    I like when that happens.

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  3. Thanks for the prompt - humour is there!

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  4. Me too, Björn! I thought quite a lot at home and this morning I had the idea to three haiku.

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  5. I am so glad that you liked this post 'bedbugs' and I am glad that you all have written such wonderful haiku on this prompt. I myself had some trouble with writing on this prompt, but just like you all did, I succeeded too. Thank you all for being part in Carpe Diem. It makes me humble to see and read that you like Carpe Diem's daily haiku meme.

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