slow recovery ~ haiku

Basho meets two farmers

slow recovery
cautious consideration
the long journey home

This haiku is my response to Carpe Diem #1844 Returning Back To Normal (I Hope), where Kristjaan hopes to start again with daily posts and try “to bring back the happiness of Haiku,” inviting us to join in “a quest for a (new) Masterpiece.” In the following form, the haiku becomes a solo renga:

slow recovery
cautious consideration
the long journey home

in the mind of a poet
time and distance become one

Image source: Wikimedia Commons
Poet Matsuo Bashō meets two farmers celebrating the mid-autumn moon festival,
from Yoshitoshi’s Hundred Aspects of the Moon (Tsukioka Yoshitoshi)

A Journey with Bashō ~ solo renga

Matsuo Bashō

A Journey with Bashō

 faithful servant
gains high regard for renga
chained cherry blossoms
~~~
learning the art of a craft
by following a master
~~~
once mentor is gone
student becomes a teacher
butterfly takes wing
~~~
thoughts turn to honored poet
with the voice of a master
~~~
a reclusive life
beside a banana tree
plagued by loneliness
~~~
follow master’s example
find solace in distant friends
~~~
seeking peace of mind
traveling on narrow road
snow on the mountain
~~~
learn new lessons every day
while discovering friendship
~~~
lightness discovered
in search for satisfaction
until last snowfall
~~~
willing to learn from the past
even as my years grow long

 

For Poetics: Poems to a Poet, Laura Bloomsbury at dVerse ~ Poets Pub asks us to write a poem about, or addressing, a favorite poet, trying to employ something of the poet’s style. To create this chain of verse regarding Matsuo Bashō, I decided to write a renga (Japanese linked verse poetry, typically collaborative), with haiku referencing his life and responses that reflect my own journey.

Matsuo Bashō was a master of haiku and renga, culminating with the publication of The Narrow Road to the Interior in 1694. As a page or servant, he learned a love for renga and went on to become a teacher, respected for his haiku. Bashō was known for his many travels from Edo (now Tokyo), vacillating from seeking friendship to an escape from the company of others. Near the end of his life, “he relented after adopting the principle of karumi or “lightness”, a semi-Buddhist philosophy of greeting the mundane world rather than separating himself from it.” (per Wikipedia) Also, “rather than sticking to the formulas of kigo [seasonal words], which remain popular in Japan even today, Bashō aspired to reflect his real environment and emotions in his hokku.” (early term for haiku)

Images from Wikimedia Commons
Poet Basho and Moon Festival, by Tsukioka Yoshitoshi
Portrait of Matsuo Basho, by Hokusai

Still Cold ~ solo renga

Still Cold

melting snow
in afternoon sun
nights still cold

breath in the crisp air
fogging my glasses

frosted panes
see only shadows
drifting by

waterfowl swimming
in ice-jammed river

dark shadows
stray geese overhead
seeking food

sparrows at feeder
still cold and hungry

This solo renga is my response to
Frank Tassone’s #Haikai Challenge #177: Still Cold.

Images ~ 18 February 2021
The Moreau River in Missouri (snow covered)
The Missouri River at Jefferson City, Missouri

waiting for a break in clouds ~ tan renga

Carpe Diem Tan Renga Wednesday – White Crane asks us to use
a haiku by Kikaku (in blue) to create a tanka.

how I wish to call
a white crane from Fukei,
but for this cold rain.
               Kikaku

waiting for a break in clouds
to deliver good fortune

A crane is said to symbolize good fortune, balance, and happiness.
Image source: ukiyo-e.org – Crane and Waves, by Baiso
(right click image for larger view in new tab)

the first of many brushstrokes ~ soliloquy no renga

one starry night
to make that one painting –
the rustling leaves
© Chèvrefeuille

branches sway in gentle breeze
starlight twinkling in their wake

stargazing poet
would be stargazing painter
inspired by the night

nature’s canvas in the sky
with myriad points of light

brilliant distraction
moon rising above the trees
such inspiration

leaves dancing before the moon
silhouetted by its light

framed by counterpoints
lights much closer than the stars
planets in the night

shifting shades of red and blue
sparkling in a star filled sky

so much to choose from
all these heavenly bodies
wonder where to start

shooting star in star filled sky
the first of many brushstrokes

Carpe Diem Weekend Meditation #107 Soliloquy no Renga … one starry night offers a haiku by Chèvrefeuille (in blue) to be followed by subsequent links of a renga by the responding poet, with a minimum of six links. A “closed chain” is attained when the hokku (starting verse) and ageku (closing verse) connect in a way to make “the circle” complete.
This is my response.

Photos: Hunter’s Moon, 13 October 2019
Star image: The Galaxy Above, © Rodrigo Guerra, via Astronomy Picture of the Day

dancing on the beach ~ renga

Carpe Diem #1697 Renga with Jane Reichhold … placing the flute
asks us to create a renga (or chain of verses) by following
each provided haiku by Jane Reichhold
(in blue), in any order, with two lines.
A “closed chain” is attained when the hokku (starting verse)
and ageku (closing verse)
connect in a way to make “the circlecomplete.

dancing on the beach
I jab a stick into the sky
to break up the blue

sun giving way to shadow
welcome relief of evening

days so complete
words become the calls of birds
the high tide wind

carries the scent of sea foam
mingling with all most pleasant

wind perfumed
from a woman’s shoulder
desert night

carried across the mountains
like a song riding the breeze

placing the flute
against her lips something
slips into place

a tune that piques the senses
with charms that arouse desire

moon white water
lovers in the secret cove
Saturday night

long hours gazing at the stars
wisdom reaching through the years

I’m not old
all night my eyes have held
the ancient stars

until deep dark of night sky
yields to light of morning’s blue

Images source: pexels.com / Dominika Roseclay

so little light to be found ~ tan renga

Carpe Diem #1669 Tan Renga – white crane asks us to use a haiku by Kikaku (in blue) – written to comfort Basho shortly before his death – to be used to create a tanka.

How I wish to call
A white crane from Fukei
But for this cold rain

               Kikaku

so little light to be found
when under such a dark cloud

Image source: Museum of Fine Arts Boston
Crane Flying over Wave, by Utagawa Hiroshige