The Classic tradition of haiku : an anthology by Bowers Faubion 1917-

Author:Bowers, Faubion, 1917-
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Haiku
Publisher: Mineola, NY : Dover Publications
Published: 1996-08-09T16:00:00+00:00

Boncho 33

kaite mitari I keshitari hate wa I keshi no hana 1

I write, I look, I erase And in the end A poppy of erasure.

AK

Nozawa Boncho (d. 1714) 2

naganaga to I kawa hito suji ya I yuki no hara

A single river stretching far

Across the moorland swathed in snow.

BHC

mono no oto I hitori taoruru I kagashi kana

A sound of something! the scarecrow Has fall'n down of itself.

AM

1 Hokushi's deathbed poem, containing a pun on keshi which means both "to erase" and "poppy," whose petals easily leave their stem. The double meaning is that when a poet corrects himself he arrives at a better poem. Also, having lived a life of trying to write well, he will now die content.

2 Boncho, Basho's disciple and "an impoverished doctor," was convicted of smuggling, a crime punishable by having one's nose cut off. Because of his reputation as a poet, he was exiled instead.

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