I was truly humbled when Jane Reichhold ( internationally renown haijin poet and AHA founder) selected the following haiku of mine among her top 10 favorites of all time ( with post-commentary by Jane) Bashos frog. . . four hundred years of ripples -Al Fogel ( Commentary by Jane Reichhold from Favorite Haiku...New Zealand Poetry Society) At first the idea of picking only 10 of my favorite haiku seemed a rather daunting task . How could I review all the haiku I have read in my life and decide there were only 10 that were outstanding? Then realized I was already getting a steady stream of excellent haiku day by day through the AHA forum. The puns and write-offs based on Bashos most famous haiku are so numerous I would have said nothing new could be said with this method, but here Al Fogel proved me wrong. Perhaps part of my delight in this haiku lies in the fact that I agree with him. Here he is saying one thing about realism--ripples are on a pond after a frog jumps in , but because it refers back to Basho and his famous haiku, he is also saying something about the haiku and authors who have followed him. We, and our work, are just ripples while Basho holds the honor of inventing the idea of the sound of a frog leaping is the sound of water. As haiku spreads around the world, making ripples in more and larger ponds, its ripple are wider--including us all. But his last word reminds us all that we are only ripples and that our lives are ephemeral. It will be the frogs that will remain. Bashos frog. . . four hundred years of ripples Again, a heartfelt thanks , Jane! Al
Posted on: Mon, 28 Apr 2014 10:44:33 +0000
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