Long Cicada Poems

Zen Death Haiku

Brittle cicada shell,
little did I know
you were my life!
—Shuho, translation by Michael R. Burch

Returning
as it came,
this naked worm.
—Shidoken, translation by Michael R. Burch

As dew glistens
on a lotus leaf,
so too I soon must vanish.
—Shinsui,...

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Today, catching sight of the mallards
crying over Lake Iware:
Must I too vanish into the clouds?
—Prince Otsu translation by Michael R. Burch  

This world—
to what may we compare it?
To autumn fields
lying darkening at dusk
illuminated by...

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7. Playing With Fire
My mom IS quite clear on the dangers of fire,
But if boy'S hooked on flame, then it'S hard to obey,
There'S a longing for “MATCH GUN” (6) that most boys acquire,
Small'S the chance...

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There are things in my life of which I'm not proud
But my letting friends down tops the list, 
I guess I could let my mind walk in a cloud	
But the friends that I've lost are...

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Brahma III

The frivolous life lives vainly 
looking at a phantom, chasing after illusion;
men accuse one another thinking their life is real,
fight each other thinking they are existing. Today as well,
I wander in the valley of...

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We came walking blind bends at dusk, 
An overhanging fig picked fresh.
No pavements, just a nervous trust 
that drivers would skirt our single line.

Hugging the roadside with torches lit, 
Phones swung glowing to the ground...

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So America, how does it feel?
To choose a dumbass of a president
Such as Donald Trump" now?
Not so great a ruler is he?

He doesn't know the facts
He didn't take precautions
He didn't have backup plans
He doesn't know...

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              The Night Soil Man

			I

		Nothing sticks to-get-her like turds
             ...

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ZEN DEATH HAIKU VIII

These are my modern English translations of Japanese Zen Death Haiku. 

Had I not known
I was already dead
I might have mourned
my own passing.
—Ota Dokan, loose translation/interpretation of his jisei (death poem) by...

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"you are more than I deserve. It's a love I never dreamed I'd find. Happinesd like this is worth dying for..."
- Yasunari Kawabata-

Looking down, while flying midway between sky and earth,
I saw a dog on...

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Petals I amass
with such tenderness
prick me to the quick.
? Kobayashi Issa, loose translation by Michael R. Burch
 
This world of dew
is a world of dew indeed;
and yet ...
? Kobayashi Issa, loose translation by Michael R....

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Like cyclops (with one eye), like octopus (arms that encompass),
the wound of lost elm limb (a bull’s eye to witness home playground),
stares down what would harm me, the sun’s rays that burn! Trunk’s strong branches
and...

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The wood misunderstood the knife, the ax, the scythe
though for centuries it had sheltered man and should not
have misunderstood man's intent.

Wind chimes sublime mime melodies wordless tones
without rhyme noting not the passing of time.

The endless...

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The Mansions of Heaven

I’ve birthed poems that still miss attention from friends
that are company to me. Downpours? Keep me dry!
Life provides, both in comings and goings (some fear).
I find joy in the knowledge some things...

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It was the rat and the snake that ate each other.
It was the love in them.
It was the buttercup and the lupine that devoured the bees.
It was the insectivore legs that tilled the crumbling fields.
It...

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One early morning I heard the sound of approaching spring.
It was the sound of a bashful maiden crossing the stream 
barefooted, holding the skirt in her slender fingers.  

An azalea on the hillside is,...

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the start tag 




rose_rosy [????????]
 

By the 
Chinese 
poet 
fengwenshu 


My space 's small emperaror-my son-

As a Roseate for endless routh, 

When unborn my son, 

Lived in lofly belly of a flowering tree of dreaming.

And...

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My guru carries a set of brass knuckles
you'd think he'd be all yes sir and no sir
but instead I get ahah hoho and egad
I can't do anything right on my best day
and I have the...

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the start tag 




 

By the 
Chinese 
poet 
fengwenshu 


My space 's small emperaror-my son-

As a Roseate for endless routh, 

When unborn my son, 

Lived in lofly belly of a flowering tree of dreaming.

And fire...

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Changing Seasons

In a burst of color and animal choruses 
Sovereign sun heralds in a golden morning –
The air was delicate with the perfume of cherry blossom 
Blown in from the hem of pink rows that...

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The owls hoot nearby;

The screech-owl calls;

The wolves howl in the distance;

The beetles tap and tap in an endless charade

The cicada seems like it won’t give up clinging to the trees; its eyes looks lovely

The bush...

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The owls hoot nearby;

The screech-owl calls;

The wolves howl in the distance;

The beetles tap and tap in an endless charade

The cicada seems like it won’t give up clinging to the trees; its eyes looks lovely

The bush...

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I beckon nature to play her Symphony of Spring
when everything comes alive, revived once more.
When resident avian will have a chorus as backup, 
perched along limbs and branches of aged oaks,
arrayed in dresses the hue...

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one drowsy day’s afternoon 
by a pond where green leafy reeds swaying in a breeze 
the sun enjoys a nap enveloped in a halo, the own glory
 
on the gentle weaves 
a water strider gliding...

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Yamaguchi Seishi haiku modern English translations

Grasses wilt:
the braking locomotive
grinds to a halt.
—Yamaguchi Seishi, loose translation by Michael R. Burch

Ceaseless chaos—
ice floes clash
in the Soya straits.
—Yamaguchi Seishi, loose translation by Michael R. Burch

Having crossed the sea,
winter...

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