Favourite Haiku

These are some of my favourite poems from haiku poets.  I hope you also enjoy them.

Classical/Japanese poets

The four great haiku masters are said to be Basho, Buson, Issa and Shiki.

A solitary crow
on a bare branch –
autumn evening.

— Basho

Hibiscus flower
naked I wear one
in my hair.

— Basho

In a humble cottage
tea leaves raked up
after the storm.

— Basho

Rabbit-ear iris
how much it looks like
its image in water.

— Basho

Winter shower
a falling of pebbles
into Small Stone River.

–Basho

Withered by winter
one-coloured world –
the sound of wind.

— Basho

Cold moon
feeling the pebbles
under my shoes.

— Buson

On the temple bell
perching and sleeping
a butterfly.

— Buson

With each falling petal
they grow older –
plum branches.

— Buson

But for their voices
herons would disappear
in the morning snow.

— Chiyo

Moon flowers!
When a woman’s skin
is revealed.

— Chiyo.

The autumn wind
resounds in the mountain –
temple bell.

— Chiyo

Being only a drop
between heaven and earth
utterly naked.

— Fuyuo

Snow has melted –
the village is full
of children.

— Kobayashi Issa

Hoot of an owl –
the rays of moonlight shimmer
on a hidden pond.

— Minoru

Alone, silently –
the bamboo shoot
becomes a bamboo.

— Santoka

Early autumn –
peering through willows
the morning sun.

— Seibi

Sitting by the fire –
another self is walking
into the north wind.

— Tetsunosuke

 

Modern poets (mostly western)

plum blossoms
a specimen of my dream
sent to the lab

— Fay Aoyagi

lark song
down to
its bones

— Robert Boldman

alzheimer’s
white white white
snow falls

— Eufemia Griffo

evening rain —
I braid my hair
into the dark

— Penny Harter

she comes back —
the ocean drips off
every part of her

— Gary Hotham

Chanting a sutra —
from the corner of my eye
the silence of snow

— Priscilla Harlin-Lignori

 

mountain spring
the bottomless cup
of my hands

– Martha Magenta

an octopus
in her father’s lungs…
first autumn rain

— Reka Nyitrai

 

Hokusai’s wave
sharpening his claws
a feral cat

— Hema Priya

tonight’s world of dew
if a moment Issa’s shade
would walk beside me

— Alan Summers

 

all the secrets sing along seashell

— Elisa Theriana

biopsy
the nurse’s voice
turns to rain

— Maria Laura Valente

 

spring blooms
the many surprises
I’ve become

— Chrissi Villa

dusk from rock to rock a waterthrush

— John Wills

rain in gusts
below the deadhead
troutswirl

— John Wills