A Winter Renewal with Issa

| Haibun: Winter Renewal | Comments on Issa’s Haiku | More Haiku by Issa |

This blog is primarily focused on exploring the nature of haiku, haibun and haiga. I posted “Winter Renewal” which contains my prose, haiku by Issa and mimic haiku by me for several reasons:

• to expose new writers to haiku and haibun to some of Issa’s poetry.
• to showcase a type of haibun that might be called fantasy dialogues with other writers. “Billy Collins & The Writer’s Gaze” is another example.
• to explore what I view as some of the orthodoxies made about English-language haiku composition, pronouncements that tend to bind writers into a straight-jacket like haiku structure. Issa’s haiku tend not to follow these commonly stated orthodoxies. And yet they are so charming!
• to encourage deep readings of the works of Japanese masters like Issa and Basho, and particularly to showcase some of their haibun compositions which are difficult to find online.” Basho’s Haibun “Hiraizumi”: A Commentary” is another example.
• I also do this type of writing for my own development as a writer and reader. Deep readings of the work of haiku and haibun exemplars helps me expand my own writing repertoire and enjoyment of poetry.

To start have a look at -> “A Winter Renewal with Issa“