on the roof of hell...

Another master of the haiku is Kobayashi Issa. His work has a bit of a cynical edge – laced with humor – built on sound and motion.

Issa’s writing leans toward a conflict between guilt and action – though I would in no way consider his work spiritual or religious. His is a purely human guilt. There’s a ground of Buddhism in his poetry, but it’s backdrop. He’s a writer of the real world.

As a poet, he wasn't disillusioned about his living in the world. Issa once wrote that he prayed to Buddha, yet he continued to kill mosquitoes. He understood his connection to all things.

*

      Summer night –
even the stars
      are whispering to each other.


      ~


      In this world
we walk on the roof of hell,
      gazing at flowers.


      ~


A quiet life:

      Under my house
an inchworm
      measuring the joists.


      ~


      For you fleas too
the nights must be long,
      they must be lonely.


      ~


      Don't worry, spiders,
I keep house
      casually.


      ~


      The cuckoo sings
to me, to the mountain,
      to me, to the mountain.


      ~


      Autumn moon –
a small boat
      drifting down the tide.

(trans. Robert Hass)