iron-barred window
so high up, beyond reach,
birds call out there
so high up, beyond reach,
birds call out there
Eva Zimet
Eva’s statement
“He was introduced to me as Rinpoche. Six months like this, he said, holding his wrists together in front. And six months like this, his wrists together behind. And then he repeated the gestures. The window was very high and small, but it was enough to share with the birds in the sky, and keep him alive.”
Eva’s favorite haikai poem by Kobayashi Issa
How much
are you enjoying yourself,
tiger moth?
translation by Robert Hass
https://inpressbooks.co.uk/products/the-essential-haiku-versions-of-basho-buson-and-issa
Eva’s statement
“He was introduced to me as Rinpoche. Six months like this, he said, holding his wrists together in front. And six months like this, his wrists together behind. And then he repeated the gestures. The window was very high and small, but it was enough to share with the birds in the sky, and keep him alive.”
Eva’s favorite haikai poem by Kobayashi Issa
How much
are you enjoying yourself,
tiger moth?
translation by Robert Hass
https://inpressbooks.co.uk/products/the-essential-haiku-versions-of-basho-buson-and-issa
https://www.abebooks.co.uk/9781852249724/Essential-Haiku-Versions-Basho-Buson-1852249722/plp
Eva says:
Eva says:
“Dialogue in haiku is so much fun! We don’t get the tiger moth’s reply, but it is clearly invited and the tiger moth is assumed capable of responding, if only we could understand the response.
And thus the gist of the haiku, I think, is the narrator jealous?
And thus the gist of the haiku, I think, is the narrator jealous?
The question is not “if” but “how much” enjoyment the tiger moth experiences. Is this simple state unattainable for the narrator? How poignant! Or is the narrator aware that a tiger moth lives for only a fraction of the human life-line and is making fun of its frolic? How dim and banal! And how clever of the writer, who (in this interpretation) steps aside from the narrator.
Or is it a moment of communion? How temporal, how temporary we are.”
Waiting for Godot
Pozzo (to Vladimir): Are you alluding to anything in particular?
Withnail and I
“I” (to uncle Monty): Perhaps it’s in the other bag.
“I” (to uncle Monty): Perhaps it’s in the other bag.
NOTES:
Eva Zimet
Kobayashi Issa
1820
.どれ程に面白いのか火とり虫
小林 一茶
小林 一茶
dore hodo ni omoshiroi no ka hitorimushi
Issa
why is playing
with fire such fun...
tiger moth?
with fire such fun...
tiger moth?
David Lanoue translation
David says:
In this haiku Issa questions the moth's Japanese name, hitorimushi: as Shinji Ogawa translates, "bugs that love to play with fire."
David Lanoue’s website about one of Japan’s most favourite haikai poets:
Search for Issa haikai verses:
http://haikuguy.com/issa/search.php
http://haikuguy.com/issa/search.php
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