Hello and Happy Poetry Friday! Be sure to visit lovely Linda at A Word Edgewise for Roundup.
It's been a rough week in the news. My heart is with all those families in Uvalde, and with all of you. There are no words.
Meanwhile, rain blows over, flowers bloom. Memorial Day weekend marks the start of lake season—hurray! And that's got me thinking about frogs.
And thinking about frogs got me thinking about haiku. Perhaps you've read Basho's oft-translated frog poem... Seriously. So. Many. Translations! You can read many here.
Here's the one I see most often, translated by Robert Haas:
The old pond —a frog jumps in,
sound of water.
Beautiful, yes?
I also love Kermit the Frog's "It's Not Easy Being Green."
And then I found this gorgeous art in my ArtSpeak: ANIMALS file, and voila! A frog poem! Thank you so much for reading.
pond shrinks to puddle
mud cracks—still
five frogs sing
- Irene Latham
Lovely, Irene. Frogs are the sound of summer, where I live. Chorusing with crickets. Especially during a rainy summer. (Which hasn't been the norm for us for a while. Though we did get spring and autumn rain instead, this year. And spring rain sprang the frog songs.)
ReplyDeleteYour haiku is unfrogettable, Irene. :)
ReplyDeleteDespite adversities, we all need to step back, reflect, stay positive in the face of adversity. Thanks for the lovely reminder.
ReplyDeleteI love this a lot. Your use of "still" for the cutting word is masterful and deeply impactful. Thank you for sharing.
ReplyDeleteMy favorite word is "still." Thank you for writing.
ReplyDeleteNice to have a lovely frog haiku to calm and delight amid all the bad news. Thank you!!
ReplyDeleteLike others have noted, Irene, the word 'still' punches above its weight in your haiku, enabling readers to infer. It gives your poem greater gravitas.
ReplyDeleteLove this, Irene! Thank you for conjuring a chorus of frogs.
ReplyDeleteWe have a racket of spring peepers going in the wee wood across the street from us. They are persistent and insistent about their survival in this suburban wilderness. Hope we can also survive the shrinking pond of safety.
ReplyDeleteThe distraction of frog songs is a balm, if for only a moment. Thank you, Irene!
ReplyDeleteThank you for your powerful frog haiku. I have always loved frogs. Walking at dusk, I love the tree frogs trilling.
ReplyDelete