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Poetry posted in this category are works of fiction. Names, places, characters, events, and incidents are created by the authors' imaginations or are used fictitiously. Any resemblances to actual persons (living or dead), organizations, companies, events, or locales are entirely coincidental.
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Backwoods Reflections - 3. The Four Seasons

Here are a few Issa-style haiku, one for each season of the year.

 

A light mist falls from

the cloudless spring sky, as a

seagull flies away.

 

 🌳🌳🌳

 

With agitation,

four mosquitoes whine outside

a shield of bug spray.

 

 🌳🌳🌳

 

Holding an acorn,

a saucy squirrel taunts the

hungry fox below.

 

 🌳🌳🌳

 

Fragrant steam lifts from

warm horse-apples dropped onto

newly-fallen snow.

Copyright © 2023 Backwoods Boy; All Rights Reserved.
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Poetry posted in this category are works of fiction. Names, places, characters, events, and incidents are created by the authors' imaginations or are used fictitiously. Any resemblances to actual persons (living or dead), organizations, companies, events, or locales are entirely coincidental.
Note: While authors are asked to place warnings on their stories for some moderated content, everyone has different thresholds, and it is your responsibility as a reader to avoid stories or stop reading if something bothers you. 
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Backwoods Boy
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1 hour ago, Parker Owens said:

You can experiment any day you like. These are lovely. 

Thanks, Parker.  My initial thought was to introduce Limerick humor to Haiku form, but I soon learned I was about 200 years too late for that to be original.  So after further reading and a few minor alterations, I'm now happy to be simply trying to emulate one of the masters :) 

Edited by Backwoods Boy
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Geron Kees
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1 hour ago, Backwoods Boy said:

Thanks, Parker.  My initial thought was to introduce Limerick humor to Haiku form, but I soon learned I was about 200 years too late for that to be original.  So after further reading and a few minor alterations, I'm now happy to be simply trying to emulate one of the masters :) 

But humor is also appreciated, when you have time to work some in. Judging by how nice this set is, I'm sure we'd be smiling at properly metered jokes as well!

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Backwoods Boy
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20 hours ago, Geron Kees said:

But humor is also appreciated, when you have time to work some in. Judging by how nice this set is, I'm sure we'd be smiling at properly metered jokes as well!

 

17 hours ago, raven1 said:

Four excellent haiku poems.  I did like the humor of the second and fourth poems.  The bug spray in the second was a fun tweak to the idea of haiku topics.  :gikkle:

 

8 hours ago, WolfM said:

These are wonderful. I really need to get back to trying @AC Benus's lessons in Zero to Hero.

Thanks to all three of you for your observations.  I enjoyed my initial poetry efforts four years ago when @AC Benus was writing Zero To Hero, and am finding it useful trying to get restarted.  I read the Haiku chapter before attempting these, and when I showed them to AC, he suggested I look at the Zen Humor essay that followed.  That essay informed me that a subtle, skewed humor was endemic to both Haiku and Tanka - as opposed to the somewhat raucous humor of limericks.  He also suggested "Issa-style Haiku" instead of my planned "Irreverent Haiku" as a subtitle.  Further research showed that, beside subtle humor, Issa tended towards rural images and, to quote AC elsewhere,  "Issa's Haiku often place himself as an observer and ask the reader to understand the unstated emotions on their own."  Precisely!  So I reworked things a little in an attempt to better emulate Issa.

That hopefully explains my vague responses above, and it's probably more than anyone wanted to know, but I'll mention a few specifics.  @raven1 pointed out the humor in the second and fourth.  The third depends on whether one chooses to laugh at the squirrel or sympathize with the fox.  As to the first, I think the intended humor was too obscure, so I changed it slightly. :) 

Edited by Backwoods Boy
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Backwoods Boy
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2 hours ago, GLH said:

Really enjoyed these and had a bit of a chuckle with the second and fourth. "Fragrant" isn't a term I'd readily associate with steaming warm horse-apples, though.  :D

Thanks for reading, and for your observations.  There was an attempt here to produce the type of skewed humor found in some of the original haiku.  I think the intended humor in the first was too obscure, so I changed it slightly. ;) 

Edited by Backwoods Boy
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GLH
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6 hours ago, Backwoods Boy said:

Thanks for reading, and for your observations.  There was an attempt here to produce the type of skewed humor found in some of the original haiku.  I think the intended humor in the first was too obscure, so I changed it slightly. ;) 

Upon first reading the humor of the first went right over my head, which frankly, at times can be an embarrassingly low bar.

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Backwoods Boy
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9 hours ago, GLH said:

Upon first reading the humor of the first went right over my head, which frankly, at times can be an embarrassingly low bar.

I would blame it on the original wording.  One thing I'm learning about playing with poetry is how word choice and order can make a big difference.  "A light mist" vs. "Spring rain" paints an entirely different picture, and even "cloudless" is more explicit than "clear blue".  The thesaurus is an essential tool, and feedback from readers like yourself provides clues that what I intend, others might not see :) 

Edited by Backwoods Boy
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ReaderPaul
On 3/16/2023 at 2:32 AM, raven1 said:

Four excellent haiku poems.  I did like the humor of the second and fourth poems.  The bug spray in the second was a fun tweak to the idea of haiku topics.  :gikkle:

On 3/17/2023 at 12:54 AM, GLH said:

Upon first reading the humor of the first went right over my head, which frankly, at times can be an embarrassingly low bar.

On 3/17/2023 at 10:19 AM, Backwoods Boy said:

I would blame it on the original wording.  One thing I'm learning about playing with poetry is how word choice and order can make a big difference.  "A light mist" vs. "Spring rain" paints an entirely different picture, and even "cloudless" is more explicit than "clear blue".  The thesaurus is an essential tool, and feedback from readers like yourself provides clues that what I intend, others might not see :) 

@raven1 -- Terry, when I read this, I say the "haiku topics" as "haiku tropics."

@GLH -- I think I remember your name as Gerry -- we both share an embarrassingly low bar on humor.

@Backwoods Boy -- Right word choice is important.  I had a professor in college who almost preached word choice at us in his classes when we would do research papers for him.  You have excellent word choices in these.

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