Winter Haiku

[Guest guest]

Here in New England the temperatures have been in the teens and tens and

zeroes the last week or so, with the coldest weather in years expected tonight.

 

This inspired me to pull out Volume 4 of R.H.Blyth's "Haiku" series, for

some appropriate winter haiku.

 

The cold blast -

Small stones rattling

On the planks of the pent-roof.

----Buson

 

The winter tempest

Blows small stones

Onto the temple bell.

---Buson

 

The tempest is blowing

Someone's painfully

Swollen face.

---Basho

 

Winter desolation

In a world of one color

the sound of the wind.

---Basho

 

The previous owner,

I know it all--

Down to the very cold he felt.

---Issa

 

So bitter cold it was

I left the bamboo broom

Under the pine tree.

---Taigi

 

A thin-bladed kitchen knife

Dropped at the edge of the well -

The cold!

---Buson

 

The sound

of a rat on a plate -

How cold it is!

---Buson

 

The desolation of winter,

Passing through a small hamlet,

A dog barks.

---Shiki

 

By the light of the next room

I sit before my small food-table;

Ah, the cold!

---Issa (note: Issa is so poor he can't even afford a room in the Inn

with a light, so he keeps the door open to see by the light of the next

room. Blyth notes that because there is no self-pity in this haiku, Issa's

wretchedness becomes impersonal. and universal)

 

A child under ten,

taken to the temple;

Bitter cold!

---Shiki (Note: the child's parents are too poor to support their child so

they take him to the temple to become a priest on a cold cold night).

 

Raising my head,

I gaze a my recumbent form:

Bitter cold.

---Raizan

 

The light in the next room

Also goes out:

The night is cold.

---Shiki

 

After killing the spider,

A lonely

Cold night.

---Shiki

 

My neighbors hate me,

Rattling their saucepans

This winter night!

---Buson (note: Buson's neighbors are presumably making something tasty in

their saucepans while he lies there cold and hungry under a thin blanket)

 

My bones

Feel the quilts;

A frosty night.

---Buson

 

 

Stay warm, everyone! And if you can't get warm, try writing a haiku of your

own!

David

[Guest guest]

Dearest Davidji,

 

So now you've so playfully offered a "Show & Tell" sesshin, and David

Dear, I's een your dream-dazzled hullabaloo of Haijin high jinks! My

tiny-thinks linked with the hakui winter-bled from this hi coo head:

 

Winter desolationIn a world of one colorthe sound of the wind.

---Basho

 

Desultory wins in winsome chin-chucking

in the wind of wanting friends -

the colorful flag of baffled Bhavics, Obliterates in Om

 

The previous owner,I know it all--Down to the very cold he felt.

---Issa

 

I Am the only Ancestor,

nodding, knowing you all

as myself, down to the cold we now have

A thin-bladed kitchen knifeDropped at the edge of the well -The cold!

---Buson

 

Kitch and naf, thinfin roostertail lures

assures well the edges swell

of gills still gasping "cold entrails...oh well.

 

The desolation of winter,Passing through a small hamlet,A dog barks.

---Shiki

 

On a dark lark sparked at night

sohams passed through hands clasped

stilling barking about sharks in the card game

By the light of the next roomI sit before my small food-table;Ah, the cold!

---Issa (note: Issa is so poor he can't even afford a room in the

Innwith a light, so he keeps the door open to see by the light of the

nextroom. Blyth notes that because there is no self-pity in this

haiku, Issa'swretchedness becomes impersonal. and universal)

Making onion soup, soul-bold regroup --

brevity of being fed by Love peeling me,

crying lingers pungent in the air I weep clear

 

A child under ten,taken to the temple;Bitter cold!

---Shiki (Note: the child's parents are too poor to support their

child sothey take him to the temple to become a priest on a cold cold

night).

 

Kid of nine defined

by the time the tent revival came to town -

declined on the cold reason of belief being declined

Raising my head,I gaze at my recumbent form:Bitter cold.

---Raizan

 

Hair-raising gazing

at the form of God when I died -

Butter-Gold Mind mined...Love Mimed "it's not time!"

The light in the next roomAlso goes out:The night is cold.

---Shiki

 

sitting getting hotter for Bob then ever,

clever lever of letting go of everything -

my sister shut the lights off in the midst of Seeing.

 

After killing the spider,A lonelyCold night.

---Shiki

 

Killing spiders I cannot do,

if spider-killing is the thing to do...

I let Shiva shake their net and take their webby goo.

Stay warm, everyone! And if you can't get warm, try writing a haiku of yourown!David

 

Thanks so much David for this marvelous opportunity to tune in with

your wind of wonderful haiku halvah, heaped up at Harsha's and

feeling oh so very true to just being You! Love You, my

Brother...stay warm, you Dear Adored Adorer.

 

 

LoveAlways,

 

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