Butterfly! These words
from my brush are not flowers...
only their shadows.
Soseki*









  
The haiku that you find on the following pages have been 
written over many years. Though I have attempted to capture 
the essence of a moment, some schools of haiku would say 
that many of my haiku fly in the face of their most dearly 
held tenets because I occasionally use metaphor, and on 
occasion, anthropomorphism.(assigning human characteristics 
to non-human or inanimate objects). I started learning haiku, 
however, before attending any of the "schools".  Most schools 
agree that maintaining the classic Japanese haiku form in English 
can be very restrictive and difficult, or leads to padding, excessive 
verbiage, when using the seventeen syllable, 5-7-5 format found in the 
works of haiku masters such as Issa, Basho and Buson. 



My love of haiku, and the way I write it was fostered by the works of 
those talented masters as translated by Peter Beilenson, who rendered 
translations of their poetry and collected it in three volumes; 
Japanese Haiku, The Four Seasons, and Cherry Blossoms. Peter 
began, and Harry Behn completed the fourth volume in the series, Haiku
Harvest, because Mr. Beilenson journeyed to the "other side".  Each of 
the poems capture a moment with the deft strokes of the artist's words.  
The four works were published byPeter Pauper Press.



So, without attempting to promote any particular school here, I offer 
you my own attempts at haiku. My haiku style has changed over the 
many years I have been writing and studying it. I hope you'll find 
something you like on these pages that would make you as intrigued 
with the art of haiku as I am
 



cheers,

                                              
soji



            fallen crabapples
            a dozen butterflies
            sip the nectar



            moonviewing —
            from across the sea,
            neighbor's voices
            twilight concert
            mating calls of cicadas
            and a lone frog            		 








*This haiku, by Soseki, is from the Peter Pauper Press
volumes mentioned above.









He's smiling because
he knows about

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