Haiku Master Basho

Matsuo Basho is the Japanese saint of Haiku. Of samurai heritage, he lived in the 17th century and had an enormous following. His complete works, consisting of 1011 haiku, have recently been collected and translated by Jane Reichhold and can be found in Basho The Complete Haiku (Tokyo: Kodansha International, 2008).

It is my humble intention to also write 1011 haiku, one each day. I began in August 2009 and by my estimation, should finish in May 2012. Traditionally haiku was concerned with nature, but today our "nature" has changed. New technology has replaced the winds of nature as the force in our times. What was a rock is now a computer key. What was a cherry blossom is now a world wide web of information. What was light, is now the speed of light. Haiku is about finding an essence, thus these writings will seek to find the essence of our lives today.

A note for the reader: an important aspect of haiku is that the reader can put as much of herself/himself into the piece as the writer. If a haiku is good it will become your meaning not mine. Wish me luck! When the project is complete, if only one of the 1011 haiku approaches the skill and mastery of Basho, I will be satisfied.




Wednesday, August 4, 2010

Nu Haiku 359

trees grow on high roofs
green fingers touching cheek of
the sky, then laughing

Nu Haiku 358

Mr. Bubbles brings
wooden crate with blue, green, and
clear seltzer bottles

Nu Haiku 357

gambling card, ace of
spades dropped on sidewalk, lucky
me, unlucky deck

Nu Haiku 356

when did our world be
come too big for us to be
human to others

Nu Haiku 355

outside Tiffany
world walks by while woman shakes
under thin blanket

Nu Haiku 354

gulab jamuns wait
in rose-flavored syrup for
pink mouths of children

Nu Haiku 353

country dog hops from
shadow to shadow, city
pavement burns soft paws

Nu Haiku 352

Manhattan mattress
parked curbside, bed bug hotel
is relocating

Nu Haiku 351

girl in blue dress blows
bubbles on busy sidewalk
her breath captured there

Nu Haiku 350

bamboo fork in gray
porcelain bowl, the pickled
herring all finished

Nu Haiku 349

to have a home you
must first leave, then return to
greet the familiar

Nu Haiku 348

river noises of
the city roar even though
banks hold no water

Nu Haiku 347

afternoon closes
its curtain with a fabric
of heavy rainfall

Nu Haiku 346

ghost planes circle dimmed
city at night, only wing
lights blinking, watching

Nu Haiku 345

angry sky throws hot
lightening at Brooklyn Bridge
trusses never blink

Nu Haiku 344

some blinds up some down
some halfway winking from
gray honeycombed cement

Nu Haiku 343

dressing in white light
Lady Empire walks tall, her
head in racing clouds

Nu Haiku 342

white piece of paper
drifts down from sky to building
to pavement, bird lands

Nu Haiku 341

busy ants in high
rise windows build and tear down
a thousand ideas

Nu Haiku 340

Shake Shack line snakes half
way across Madison Square
Park while burgers fry

Nu Haiku 339

mud dog rushes past
strangers brushing them with his
wet and happy coat

Nu Haiku 338

airplanes fly over
Manhattan refusing to
move for memories

Nu Haiku 337

flashbulbs pop at top
of Empire State Building, send
out tourist morse code

Nu Haiku 336

city sirens call
to each other like feral
cats on night time prowl

Nu Haiku 335

violet pastilles burst
on tongue, swallowing flowers
I become garden

Nu Haiku 334

powder blue sky hurts
eyes when no cotton clouds break
over wide expanse

Nu Haiku 333

grass turns brown until
steady rain falls on cracked land
earth mother sighs deep

Nu Haiku 332

fireflies sparkle, night's
undulating heat waves wash
still air with hard hand

Nu Haiku 331

one hundred and four
degrees, eggs fry on sidewalks,
tires melt, people stew

Nu Haiku 330

sun sets, orange ball rolls
down alleyway of towering
city, buildings sweat

Nu Haiku 329

unpack plates and cups
wrapped in white towels, place with
care on wooden shelves

Nu Haiku 328

father remembered
today as knife slices through
watermelon rind

Nu Haiku 327

brazilian bald man
can't read, but has strong arms for
furniture moving

Nu Haiku 326

purple, aqua, brown
heather meets loch as sun sets
behind loam mountain

Nu Haiku 325

twilight coyotes
roam suburban streets, stalk small
children like rabbits

Nu Haiku 324

hot dog, no bun, no
fun, sits down on pavement to
protest sizzling paws

Nu Haiku 323

white hydrangea dust
falls on stone table, frosting
of snow in summer

Nu Haiku 322

urban gypsy packs
boxes, bangs tambourine on
dancing hands, and twirls

Nu Haiku 321

silver balloons for
nikki-boom-boom's birthday, bunched
tight like family

Nu Haiku 320

four-sided Iphone
antenna doesn't like when
fingers fuss signal

Nu Haiku 319

kayak oar cuts through
salt water, clumsy wood turns
glass to churning foam

Nu Haiku 318

earth silent in space
all around universe of
violence explodes

Nu Haiku 317

two white cats sit in
cage, wait for adoption and
wonder where grass went

Nu Haiku 316

pink cherry blossoms
bloom under steel sky, there was
my home, street empty

Nu Haiku 315

haiku poet sleeps
under stack of hay hiding
from hungry readers

Nu Haiku 314

haiku holiday
wordless fingers still move but
pen rests silently

Nu Haiku 313

did Basho ever
tire of tapping on fingers
scribbling on paper?

Nu Haiku 312

dusk's pink light settles
on peach bowl, then disappears
between blushing spheres

Nu Haiku 311

spider size of salt
grain crawls across laptop screen
lost in outer space

Nu Haiku 310

silver ceiling fan
slices dark shadow and bright
sunlight, slow breathing

Nu Haiku 309

construction truck dumps
dumpster in driveway, rabbits
hop in grass unfazed

Nu Haiku 308

out on water in
midnight ink, low rumble of
motorboat passing

Nu Haiku 307

squirrel on telephone
wire, catcalls for mate. cell phones
ringing streets below

Nu Haiku 306

haiku memory
stays strong, while life's uneasy
details-forgotten

Nu Haiku 305

bathing in pool of
technology addiction
cannot step out dry

Nu Haiku 304

sending signals to
space, empty universe swirls
but never answers

Nu Haiku 303

google-wacking: search
for two words, no hits, cyber
world crossword puzzle

Nu Haiku 302

carbon-based, we are
almost diamonds, waiting for
a future structure

Nu Haiku 301

a carbon-based life
all that stands between us and
a cold dead planet