Fields we saw
blooming with
so many different flowers,
frost-withered now
to a single hue.
~SaigyO (B Watson, Poems of a Mountain Home)

Wyoming Sony NEX-5N f/13 1/800 91mm
Fields we saw
blooming with
so many different flowers,
frost-withered now
to a single hue.
~SaigyO (B Watson, Poems of a Mountain Home)

Wyoming Sony NEX-5N f/13 1/800 91mm
in the spring breeze
already casting shadows…
irises
~Issa (www.haikuguy.com_

Nikon D750 f/3.2 1/1,600 40 mm
The wind whistles in the bamboo
and the bamboo dances.
When the wind stops,
the bamboo grows still.
A silver bird
flies over the autumn lake.
When it has passed,
the lake’s surface does not try
to hold on to the image of the bird.
~Poems by Vietnamese Dhyana Master Hai (Ocean of Fragrance)
Cited: Thich Nhat Hanh, The Heart of The Buddha’ Teachings

my hut–
it’s a crooked path
to the New Year’s shelf
~Issa (www.haikuguy.com)

The depths of the hearts
Of humankind cannot be known.
But in my birthplace
The plum blossoms smell the same
As in the years gone by.
~Ki no Tsurayuki


The video below was created by Yoshiyuki Katayama and cited at Aeon.com. Please gift yourself with this amazing visual journey with nature.
A term introduced by the Baltic German biologist Jakob von Uexküll in 1909, Umwelt refers to an organism’s internal and limited perceptual experience of the external world. This stunning experimental exploration of the concept from the Japanese artist Yoshiyuki Katayama contrasts flowers blooming at time-lapse speeds with insects and spiders atop them, captured in real time. As these two organisms move at what appear to be similar speeds, the viewer is reminded of the disparate timescales on which they usually operate, and the very different evolutionary goals that they pursue even as they interact with one another.
Olden memories
so brisk
in their fading,
this moment soon to follow —
shadows on the snow

Nikon D750 f/5 1/4,000s 83mm ISO 800
Who lives there,
learning such loneliness? —
mountain village
where rains drench down
from an evening sky
~Saigyo O (B Watson, Poems of a Mountain Home)

It is a joy to be hidden and a disaster not to be found
~Winnicott
Old and Poor: American’s Forgotten
Over the wide sea
As I sail and look around,
It appears to me
That the white waves, far away,
Are the ever shining sky.
~Fujiwara no Tadamichi (1097-1164)

Mr. McGuire: I want to say one word to you. Just one word.
Benjamin: Yes, sir.
Mr. McGuire: Are you listening?
Benjamin: Yes, I am.
Mr. McGuire: Plastics.
Benjamin : Exactly how do you mean?
Mr. McGuire: There’s a great future in plastics.
Think about it. Will you think about it? ~The Graduate
Though we are parted,
If on Mount Inaba’s peak
I should hear the sound
Of the pine trees growing there,
I’ll come back again to you.
~Ariwara no Yukihira

Nikon D750 f/4.5 1/40 56mm
The National Forest Foundation will plant a tree for every $1 you give to their tree-planting programs. Their website notes a goal of planting 50 million trees by 2023.
Suzanne Simard’s research has given us insight into how trees communicate their needs and send each other nutrients through an elaborate system which she has compared to neural networks in the human brain.
I hope you enjoy this TED Talk, How Trees Talk to Each Other
The wild geese yet
Are content to stay —
And must you return
~Otomo Oemaru (F Bowers, The Classic Traditions of Haiku)

Nikon D750 f/5.6 1/320s 300mm
after the geese depart
back to normal…
Sumida River
~Issa (www.haikuguy.com)

Nikon D750 f/5.6 1/230s 300mm
Not for stilts
but as a cane
bamboo serves me now,
I who call to mind
the games of childhood.
~Saigyo (B Watson, Poems of a Mountain Home)
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