in the spring breeze
already casting shadows…
irises
~Issa (www.haikuguy.com_
Nikon D750 f/3.2 1/1,600 40 mm
negative space
iris
black & white sunday: after and before
A bamboo sprout
Picked too soon-
It would bloom in glory
But for man
~Issa (trans: N Yuasa: The Year of My Life)
In the above haiku, Issa has written about imaginary blossoms. Yuasa notes that bamboo sprouts are harvested when they are young and soft and that they bear no flowers even if they are left to grow. After: “alternative facts” Before: “imaginary blossoms”
memory returns
Memory returns
to those ancient misty trails
around my village
but neither flowers nor love
bloom there – only my sadness
~Issa*
100 days…21st day
*cited:
The Spring of my Life
Trans: S Hamill
deep fields of irises
So very gently
it won’t even disturb
the butterfly;
this soft spring wind wanders
over deep fields of irises.
100 days…20th day
every single trace has gone
But rarely
Did he visit-now
‘Tis all in the past, and
Since then in the garden
Every single trace has gone.
~Monk-Prince Shukaku*
iris
*cited:
irises
fifth month rain–
in a rain barrel
irises
~Issa*
*cited:
haikuguy.com
to look at flowers
with feeble steps
the old man
totters by–
to look at flowers
~Issa*
*cited:
The Year of My Life
Trans: N Yuasa
just once more, say, “flowers!”
once again, child,
just once more,
say, “flowers!”
in that little voice.
~Rako*
Iris
*cited:
The Year of my Life
N. Yuasa
after spring’s rain
I am a drop of dew
Hanging from a leaf
Yet, I am not unrestful
For on this branch I
seem to have existed
~Izumi Shikibu
a meditative journey 
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