Rusty Ring

Matsuo Bashō (芭蕉) was a wandering Zen hermit of the Edo period, as well as an accomplished poet. Popularly considered the father of mo...

even one-penny fireworks... ooo! ahh! Issa (Photo courtesy of Wikimedia Commons and a generous photographer.)

The warbler wipes its muddy feet on plum blossoms – Issa ( Plum Garden, Kamata, by Utagawa Hiroshige, courtesy of Rawpixel.c...

to passing autumn the pampas grass waves goodbye, goodbye Shirao

No board, no checkers Calligraphy worth nothing Round-eyed hermit monk

Could they be sutras? In the temple well frogs chant Kansetsu (POV photo of well courtesy of Gary Meulemans and Unsplash.com.)

Winter solitude— In a world of one colour The sound of wind. Bashō

In killing my Self The monster is defeated Eat my Zen, dickweed ("Enrag'd Monster" courtesy of John Hamilton Mortimer,...

Sitting quietly. Not giving a single fuck. Grass grows by itself. – Posted online by a fellow Zen hermit; identity unknown. (Pho...

the mountain hermit's fire is rising winter rain Issa (Photo courtesy of Edal Anton Lefterov and Wikimedia Commons.)

Today's top headline: "Free-range Buddhist Eaten By Health-Conscious Cougar." – Haiku written eleven years ago, in ant...

The final line first Flow most gracefully when you write As in life, haikus (Kakinomoto no Hitomaro , by Utagaw...

a good world even from the quince thicket: "Happy New Year!" Issa

Leaves fall gently down Like rain into autumn pools Who writes this bullshit? (Photo courtesy of Robert Wnuk a...

spring breeze... packed with people the mountain temple Issa (Photo courtesy of Maria Yamaguchi and Wikimedia Commons.)

just a foot long, but it'll do New Year's pine Issa ( Pine Tree by Pan Dawei courtesy of Wikimedia Common...

Down the banister The wild schoolboy I was slides To enlightenment (Photo courtesy of Wikimedia Commons and a generous photographer....

Kobayashi Issa is my all-time favourite poet. Regular readers will find this tediously typical, for though he's one of Japan's ...

Raked with great effort I lost my piles. I found them Beneath fallen leaves ( Feuilles d'automne [1909] , ...

Before this life, what? Sitting, I see my last face: Cartoon character (Impression of "un loco a secas" courtesy...