Haiku developed out of an earlier type of Japanese poetry from the Heian Age (795-1185) dominated by female courtesans poets.
Here are some of the examples I read to you in class, poems over a 1000 years old that could have been written yesterday (truly amazing, don't you think?):
Must have its memories too:
after a thousand years,
see how its branches
lean towards the ground
by Izumi Shikibu
When my desire
grows too fierce
I wear my bed clothes
inside out,
dark as the night's rough husk
by Ono no Komachi
Remembering you . . .
The fireflies of this marsh
seem like sparks
that rise
from my body's longing.
by Izumi Shikibu
These are beautiful translations from the original Japanese by Jane Hirshfield and Mariki Aratani. Here is a link to the book on Amazon where you can read some more of their poems. There are also numerous fan pages you can find easily on the Web.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
No comments:
Post a Comment