New Year's --
 even the Buddha wears
 a bright red hood for luck.


—Issa (1762 - 1826)

Excerpt from COOL MELONS, TURN TO FROGS! THE LIFE AND POEMS OF ISSA, by
Matthew Gollub, illustrations by Kazuko G. Stone ® 1998. Reprinted with permission from the publisher. For more information, please visit leeandlow.com/books/cool.html.

Click here to buy this book.

About the author: Kobayashi Issa (1762-1826) became a major haikai poet despite an impoverished childhood and early years in which he was practically homeless. He is well loved for the empathy with small creatures expressed in many of his poems.

4 responses
published 17 February 2003
in

 

Responses to the haiku for 17 February 2003 by Issa (1762 - 1826)

  1.  
    bob richardson (orgbob at webtv dot net)
    2003-12-26 23:29:06
     

    search for luck
    beginning ..
    a new day

  2.  
    Narayanan Raghunathan (mahashishta at hotmail dot com)
    2003-12-31 05:51:05
     

    new year born
    fire-works all over
    I sit alone ~

  3.  
    john tiong chunghoo (bagiruang at yahoo dot com)
    2004-02-03 09:22:39
     

    new year rush
    for favours
    the temple full of devotees

  4.  
    bob richardson (orgbob at webtv dot net)
    2004-06-03 20:32:14
     

    hurricane warning
    even the birds ...
    take cover

    -

    5.