Graceful Exits

In my mind I hold the many children
That were friends and foes.
Like Peter, never-changing
They remain.
The vestigial shadows of last year’s flowers —
If I were to find them today:
Only the smell of damp earth.

Favorite Basho Poems

I received some upsetting personal news and am not feeling creative today, so I thought you might enjoy some of my favorite haiku by Basho instead. The following were translated into English from Japanese by Sam Hamill:

You weren’t home when I came
even the plum blossoms were
in another yard

Between our two lives
there is also the life of
the cherry blossoms

Just one possession
in this lightly-lived life —
a gourd of rice

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Labor

The light vanishes
But the men toil onwards
Life is an effort

Static Cling

Dreams cling to each eyelash
Invisible and weightless;
A blink blows them away
And an inhale draws them back

Life

Forests or white sands
A beacon lit only at night
The sparrow with its fledglings;
One does not have to travel far to find change
When the green there today
Was not in bloom yesterday

(In)compatible

Time runs uniquely to two
In circular or straightforward fashion
Like bright ribbons that stretch into the distance
Perhaps never meeting
Perhaps meeting when one is too newly dyed
Perhaps meeting when one has frayed for quieter spaces
Ah, what meaning is there to think:
If we had only met earlier or later?
The now is all that matters
The now is the miracle or the great sadness

Looking Glass

The moon travels the sky in an arc and I trace its path along the glass, following where it must have risen and where it will sink. I breathe against the cold pane and dip my fingers against the smooth surface. As the fog fades away, I wish my life’s road was as straightforward and knowable.