Two Haiku: Ring Out the Old, Ringing in the New

Photo by Ritesh Man Tamraka

Ringing out the old, with a reminder from an old friend:

little tail twitching and gone...this world

                                                                       

Photo by Terence

And ringing in the new, from my new friend, Sho-u:



The first dream of the year;
I kept it a secret
And smiled to myself.

Sho-u
translated by R. H. Blyth

-------------

Artwork by Edward Lear

a new year--
the same nonsense
piled on nonsense

 Issa

 translated by David G. Lanoue 

best,
Don

 

This post was something of a collaborative work - thanks very much to my good friend, Joy McCall.

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Chen-ou Liu: New Year

 Photo by N A Sirkhan

New Year
a dewdrop holding
the morning sun

Chen-ou Liu

This wonderful New Year's greeting arrived in my inbox yesterday from the poet Chen-ou Liu, who lives in Canada.  I asked his gracious permission to share it blog readers here and he was kind of enough to grant it.






if someone asks
answer: it's a dewdrop
OK?

Issa
translated by David G. Lanoue

 Photo by Rick Lamesa

 

 

 

 

 

 

best,

Don

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Happy Birthday, Happy New Year w/ Country Joe

Farfissa alert!

I never like to let New Years Day go by, though I often do, without celebrating the birthday of Country Joe McDonald.  The above is a video with all the glories and all the faults of that briefest of windows in our culture and musical history - flower power, baby!  The song, "Not So Sweet Lorraine," is a subtle send up of the classic jazz/blues tune of similar title, and the Fish song was an early selection on Issa's Sunday Service.

Barry Melton's smoking lead guitar is a joy to listen to, and in this case, behold.

New Year's morning:
the ducks on the pond
quack and quack.

Issa

best,
Don

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Three Poems for the New Year

From ed markowski:

new
year's
day

it
is
as
it
was

winter
wind

Traditionally in Japan, New Year's day is the first day of spring. It is the time of new beginnings and, as such, it a day on which everybody's birthday is celebrated. Issa manages to capture all this and more in a mere 11 words:

New Year's day,
everything is in blossom
I feel about average

Issa
translated by Robert Hass

For Nanao

New Year's Day
searching the obituaries
to see if I am here

Ed Baker

best,
Don


PS. After the fact, Ed learned of the recent passing of Nanao Sakaki, to whom the poem is dedicated. Here's a link to a long interview with him.