Blog201
Daily Notes on Poetry

20 August 2004. Another haiku from Modern Haiku for this entry. It's by contemporary Japanese poet, Hoshinaga Fumio, as translated (I believe) by Richard Gilbert:

first day of winter--
on a walk turning completely
into a stick
A stick! So childfully wrong, direct and accurate, the latter because a stick is the essence of brittleness, and passive smallness. The image is also appealingly fresh, such fantasy not common in haiku. I find the haiku minor-seeming but not at all actually minor, for it connects archetypally to Ultimate Lostness--while blithely recreating everyone's experience of a first day of winter cold.

COMMENTS

Use the box below to respond to this entry. Negative feedback is especially welcome. It will get to me anonymously, so you need have no fear it will result in my using my immense influence to wreck your literary career, if you have one. On the other hand, if you want to hear back, please include your e.mail address with your message.    --Bob

Click SEND to mail response. You will then be shown a copy of what you sent.
To return here, click BACK, which should be at the top of the screen, to the far left.











  








Previous Entry

Next Entry

Blog Home-Page















Hosted by www.Geocities.ws





        







1