Dear Haijin, visitors and travelers,
I have a new episode of "Encore" for you to inspire you to write in the same sense, tone and spirit as Basho.
Basho knew
his classics and used that knowledge frequently in his haiku. The following
haiku is, as Jane Reichhold says, a pseudo-science haiku.
Let us look
at the haiku on the Bush warbler.
uguisu
no kasa otoshi taru tsubaki kana
a bush
warbler
has dropped his hat
a camellia
has dropped his hat
a camellia
© Matsuo
Basho (Tr. Jane Reichhold)
 |
| Taiwan Bush Warbler |
In old
(classic) poems (e.g. waka) there was a phrase about the bush warbler (looking
similar to our cuckoo) stitching a hat from plum blossoms. Basho changed the
hat to a camellia and had the bird dropping it - which was much more natural
than stitching. If birds wore hats the camellia would be the right size and
shape. Maybe you can visualize the picture of the bush warbler wearing a
camellia for a hat. It looks like a cartoon I think, but why not. Humans wear
hats so why shouldn't birds and animals don't wear them. Maybe you lost your
hat in a storm or something, so also the bush warbler could lose his hat in the
storm or dropping it.
a gust of
wind
a hat tolls around and around -
camellia flower
a hat tolls around and around -
camellia flower
©
Chèvrefeuille
 |
| Pink Camellia |
A haiku
with a smile? I think so ...
This episode of "Encore" is NOW OPEN for your submissions and will remain open until next Thursday August 6th at noon (CET). Have fun ... be inspired and share!
So lovely has July wraps up. I am always amazed at the beauty that you find in the "little things"
ReplyDeleteI'm away a la bush at the moment ...the reason I have been absent for a bit. Our butcher birds don't wear hats but have strong beaks like sharp swords and like to sing opera so I wrote about them:)
ReplyDelete