Printed from WriteWords - http://www.writewords.org.uk/archive/34134.asp

A round dozen haiku for writing on fans

by  michwo

Posted: Friday, March 22, 2019
Word Count: 147
Summary: This is a distillation of "A hundred phrases for fans" by Paul Claudel (1868-1955) which were not strictly speaking haiku, but were printed accompanied by Japanese ideographs. Claudel lived for a time in Japan.




A round dozen haiku for writing on fans

Brown turbid water
A mallard duck is swimming
Floating bits of down
 
It has been raining
The lake reflects new sunlight
Pine trees drip raindrops
 
The end of August
Dragonflies hover in mist
Three white butterflies
 
The tree of the flesh
A pink-suckered cherry tree
Buds of deep purple
 
No longer seasick
I offer up an anchor
Encrusted with shells
 
Old poet seeking words
Poem welling up like a sneeze
Does he then write it?
 
Poem drop of water
Trembling on a lotus leaf
Restless unattached
 
When night starts to fall
Put your cheek to this statue
Of Buddha still hot
 
Thick wisteria
A plethora of blossoms
Writhing like vipers
 
Autumn leaves tranquil
Cluttering a calm canal
Clumps of yellow broom
 
Ruddy peasant face
A spotted camellia
Red blotches on snow
 
Hanging icicles
Fall breaking into fragments
Stalactites shatter