Friday, June 08, 2007

Poetry Friday: Issa

One of the first gifts Bede ever gave me was a book of haiku called The Four Seasons. Prior to the gift, I wasn't all that fond of haiku. I'd not read much haiku beyond that which my fellow students and I had to compose in creative writing classes because hey, it was best to start with something short and simple, and what was more accessible than the 5-7-5 syllable meter? Hah! Good haiku is one of the hardest kinds of poetry to write.

So far, my favorite haiku poet is Issa. Issa's poems have tinges of sly, gleeful humor. Here are some of Issa's poems I like in particular (especially the last one):

Elegant singer
Would you further favor us
with a dance... O frog?

*

Now take this flea:
He simply cannot jump...and
I love him for it.

*

Congratulations
Issa!... You have survived to feed
This year's mosquitoes.

*

Rainy afternoon...
Little daughter you will never
Teach that cat to dance.


*

Edit via cloudscome:

Don't worry spiders.
I keep house
casually.

7 comments:

Andromeda Jazmon said...

My favorite Issa:

Don't worry spiders.
I keep house
casually.

Lady K said...

Good ones! The mosquito one really hits home.

Vivian Mahoney said...

I love these! I added your link to the poetry friday roundup. Good luck on the 48 hour book challenge!

Myth said...

yayy :) I love Haiku! (can really relate to that spider one above too...)

Anonymous said...

You will never teach that cat to dance

Sad, but true.

Anonymous said...

I love haiku! These were all lovely!

Saints and Spinners said...

I'm glad you all enjoyed these haiku. I'm going to add the one cloudscome posted, because it's just perfect.