Haikiah (palindromic haiku)
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Slate pond –
Lone moon met stem; no omen
Old, no petals
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Parts tense, gardenia droner is sad
A cicada’s siren, ordained, rages
Nets trap
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I, Basho, sit in a rigor, fond.
No plop, ol’ pond? No frog? I ran
It is – oh! – sabi.
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Notes and comments
Fond: Used here in its archaic sense of foolish
Sabi: A Japanese word with no simple translation. An important aesthetic concept in Japanese art and life, it denotes a kind of elegant, refined simplicity with implications of solitude and antiquity.
Matsuo Basho (1644-1694) is Japan’s most famous and beloved of haiku poets.
This haikiah was inspired by his most well-known haiku
furu ike ya
kawazu tobikomu
mizu no oto
Which translates fairly literally as
Old pond –
A frog dives in
The sound of water
In a twist, I imagine Basho sitting by the pond again, on another day, waiting for a frog to plop, but becoming overwhelmed by the lonely beauty of the scene as no frog appears.
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Evilly Dine Dragons 