I’m not sure Kobayashi Issa would be very impressed to know that
tonight’s full moon comes during the month’s lunar perigee — when it
is nearest the earth in its orbit. (He’d certainly smile tolerantly, if told
by an avid scientist that the moon appears 30% brighter from earth at
perigee than at apogee.)
Perigean or not, tonight’s particularly brilliant full moon
will surely inspire haiku around the world. Here are some of my
favorite summer moon haiku from Master Issa:
her child tucked in
she washes his clothes…
summer moon
under a full moon
yet still not cool…
the straw mat
spotting three shoots
of new bamboo…
the moonlit night
crossing the river
taking a leak…
summer moon
moon on the sea–
he’s under his fan
sleeping
big rain
big moon
cicada in the pine
in soup kettle
and outhouse
the summer moon
– from The Haiku of Kobayashi Issa, where you’ll find 5000 more Issa haikuonline and searchable, translated by David G. Lanoue
– We just added four summer moon haiku to the Tea Party with Issa in our SideBar.
p.s. You can click here to see what the moon looks like each day.
– Moon/schmoon: Prof Yabut’s thinking about snow buddhas “SnowBuddhaChadGS”
