A tribute to Gary Maxwell – Utabukuro – August 2, 2015

One of my favourite poets is Gary Maxwell known in the blogging world as Ye Olde Foole … he is witty and sharp, and his haiku are delicate and very profound.  But I’ll let you judge for yourself –  this small selection of this work:

now night is over,
ancient anthems sing anew:
sirens and sparrows.
pines and lamp posts standing guard
where daybreak paints his shadows.

© Gary Maxwell
(Tanka (now night is over)18 May 2013)

(And now, here are a few of his haiku, taken from his blog site)

Some Summer mornings,
you can’t grasp a single word –
so sit in wonder.

moon still a sliver.
heart too small to hold these tears.
not enough sake.

(and remembering Basho’s haiku about a bee

a bee
staggers out
of the peony

© Basho

I couldn’t resist putting this one up)

iris
underneath her skirts
a bee

Besides writing haiku, senryu and tanka, Gary also writes classical poetry like ghazal, villanelle and sonnets. You can visit his blog site – Ye Olde Foole – by clicking the link and he can also be read on Books Cover 2 Cover.

And now I will try to write in the same tone and spirit as Gary, inspiring myself from this haiku which is one of my favourites … and very Zen to me :

There are no questions
save the ones you brought, yourself,
into this stillness.

© Gary Maxwell

§§§

in this silence
nothing to meditate on
just life
rolling past infinitely
from wonder to wonder

© G.s.k. ‘15

This post was written for:

Carpe Diem Utabukuro

 where we write about a favourite haiku … in my case I wanted to write about my favourite haiku poet, so I didn’t choose just one of his many poems ….

Haiku – June 17, 2014

Saké

summer evening
warm saké and history
reading haiku

fleas jumping
on the sofa merrily
a feast waiting

rain drumming
at midnight
summer concert

buzzing mosquito
singing of feasts
in my ear

forlorn
the flowers grow
and wither

the cat streches
his nap completed
he eats dinner

whispering wind
in a field of corn
inviting autumn

---

This post is dedicated to two of the great haiku masters of history and is a little tribute I wanted to make for them … Matsuo Basho and Kobayashi Issa I wonder if I’ve been able to capture the two different voices of these great masters!