Tuesday, July 15, 2008

Four Haiku:

(for Alan Summers)

Night (Senyru/Senyru):

1
end of a long, hard day
breath held in
suddenly let out

2
journal of a dream
hand writing on pillow
cat wants to play

Morning (Senyru/Haiku):

3
toast soaks up butter
egg in skillet
morning sunrise

4
prayer towers subdue
the rusty hinge
of cloudless dawn

6 comments:

Pris said...

Hi Russell
What a special thing for you to do for Alan. I especially like the first one. As you said in your note some are more like short 'haiku like' poems, but they're beautifully written no matter what the label.

Sorry to take so long to get here. Discovered a robbery right after I wrote you and the Sheriff has been here. About 15,000 worth of stuff.

Russell Ragsdale said...

Wow Pris, thanks! It was you who made it possible for me to get to know Alan because of that Haiku translation article. Before that I only knew of him by reputation.

I've been encouraged to do away with the artificial anglaisized metricality of writing these in English and am now searching for the spirit of the form which transcends language.

Sorry to hear about the bad doings over your way. I hope everything will be OK soon!

Thanks for that wonderful comment, sweet one.

Pris said...

You're the sweet one:-)

And I've been reading Jane Reichold's book on Basho. He broke all of the rules and he's a master.

Russell Ragsdale said...

The interview with Reichold you shared with me is the one that really encouraged me into breaking the rules with real intent. Thanks for that sweet Pris!

Area 17 said...

Dear Russell,

What an honour, thank you!

I really enjoyed all of them.

Glad you're breaking the rules, as even Basho broke the haiku, quite a few times. ;-)

Alan
With Words
.

Russell Ragsdale said...

Thanks Alan. I'm glad you liked these. It is a privilege and a joy to know they have brought you some pleasure. This trail of pleasant words will surely encourage this old traveler to keep trundling on.