Matsuo Poems - Poems about Matsuo

These are original haiku by Michael R. Burch and his translations of haiku by the Japanese masters Matsuo Basho, Yosa Buson, Masaoka Shiki, and others. Am I really this old, so many ghosts beckoning? —Michael R. Burch Sleepyheads! I recite...Read the rest...

Matsuo Basho My brother, it’d snowed so much That the Sun had died. Poems are vital For a better Society Du Fu is happy. Su Shi is proud too Yes, Poetry is important For the Universe. Copyright © December 2023, Hébert Logerie, all rights...Read the rest...

A morning spell freshly proposed comes quietly in yesterday's ambient air pushes out of the screen archaic puffs of stale what meanders out is the remnants of me...Read the rest...

Matsuo Basho New Haiku Translations Air ballet: twin butterflies, twice white, meet, match & mate —Matsuo Basho, loose translation/interpretation by Michael R. Burch Denied transformation into a butterfly, autumn worsens for the worm —Matsuo Basho, loose translation/interpretation by Michael R. Burch Dusk-gliding...Read the rest...

Dusk-gliding swallow, please spare my small friends flitting among the flowers! —Matsuo Basho translation by Michael R. Burch A bee emerging from deep within the peony's hairy recesses flies off, sated —Matsuo Basho translation by Michael R. Burch That dying cricket,...Read the rest...

The first soft snow: leaves of the awed jonquil bow low —Matsuo Basho translation by Michael R. Burch Come, investigate loneliness! a solitary leaf clings to the Kiri tree —Matsuo Basho translation by Michael R. Burch The cheerful-chirping cricket contends gray...Read the rest...

BASHO Three hundred years passed— Basho's frog still goes kerplunk. He's still much with us. Three hundred years passed— Basho's frog still goes kerplunk. Can you hear him yet? Three hundred years passed— Basho's frog still jumps— kerplunk. Can't you...Read the rest...

I find you in an old silent pond, The imagery you've left will outlive all, With nature,your immortal bond You will stand like a kiri tree tall. You, the gem of haiku, Your name be echoed in Fuji's peak, Mogami river...Read the rest...