Summer Haiku

Winter solitude―
in a world of one colour
the sound of the wind.
 Matsuo Bashō

If we go by literary historians, haiku was invented around 700–1100CE in Japan. This art form had undergone a world of change as evident from the evolution of tanka and choka and renga and shofu and others. Then arrived Matsuo Bashō (1644–1694) with the typical minimal Zen style. According to Literary Kicks: ‘Of all the forms of poetry, haiku perhaps is the most demanding of the reader. It demands the reader’s participation because haiku merely suggests something in the hopes that the reader will find “a glimpse of hitherto unrecognised depths in the self.” Without a sensitive audience, haiku is nothing.’

More haiku on this blog      Haiku Haiyoba