the archives of f/k/a . . .

With Hurricane Katrina heading straight at New Orleans, the f/k/a gang send

our best wishes and hopes to all the affected people – especially to our haiku

friend Prof. David G. Lanoue, at Xavier University, and to Ernie.  Neither David’s

Issa website nor XU’s homepage have been accessible this afternoon.   I was

hoping to find a few poems on rain storms and floods, but couldn’t get to the

Issa search engine.   You can, however, click here for a page of typhoon/hurricane

haiku from a 1999 Shiki Kukai contest.

 

  Luckily, I had a handful of almost-relevant haiku by

Kobayashi Issa stashed on my computer:

 

speaking truth
the rainy season’s crack
of thunder

 

 

 

 

lightning flash–
the astonished face
of the dog

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

lightning flash–
not giving a damn
the toad’s face

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

big rain
big moon
cicada in the pine

 

 

 

 

 

 

the day is devilishly
long!
long!

 

 

The Haiku of Kobayashi Issa,

translated by David G. Lanoue

 

 

 

 

 

 

      gridlock
         on the freeway–
the skywriting drifts

 

              

Michael Dylan Welch from Open Window

- http://www.brooksbookshaiku.com/welch/26…;click for original haiku and photo