Caging Haiku

haiku to the moon
captured in the tallest tree
heavenly streetlamp

Kim M. Russell, 2017

My response to Carpe Diem Universal Jane #15 birdcage

Chèvrefeuille has welcomed us to a new ‘weekend-meditation’, a new episode of Universal Jane, in which he has shared an article written by Jane, entitled ‘Building an Excellent Birdcage’. In her article, all the haiku used as examples are by Matsuo Basho and were translated by Jane Reichhold. I enjoyed reading this article, in which Jane explained how to write haiku, and love her explanation of what haiku is all about:

‘How to build the cage of words to hold the miracle safe and full of sound until the images in a reader’s mind open the door to the wonderment and delight the author found in one part of the world. It is the cage that will attract and intrigue the reader, but it must also be well-built enough to bring the experience intact across time and space.’

I also love the haiku by Basho she chose to illustrate this:

clouds of fog
quickly doing their best to show
one hundred scenes