The Heart of Haiku Touched My Own Heart

Thank goodness for the uninterrupted plane ride this past week because I was finally able to finish Jane Hirshfield's The Heart of Haiku.  It is an exquisite little book and will be joining others on my "Favorites" shelf.  Some highlights from it:

In quoting Basho:  "But unless things are seen with fresh eyes, nothing's worth writing down."

When the space between poet and object disappears, Basho taught, the object itself can begin to be fully perceived.  Through this transparent seeing, our own existence is made larger.

To read a haiku it so become its co-author, to place yourself inside its words until they reveal one of the proteus-shapes of your own life.

Art can be defined as beauty able to transcend the circumstances of its making.

One useful way to approach a haiku is to understand each of its parts as pointing toward both world and self.

Feeling within ourselves the lives of others (people, creatures, plants, and things) who share this world is what allows us to feel as we do at all.

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There is so much about haiku I didn't know, and I am sure I still don't know.  I look forward to learning more and writing more of it.  I will end this blog with a question and a haiku:

What is your favorite haiku and why?

Year after year,
the monkey's face
wears a monkey's mask
 - Basho, translated by Jane Hirshfield

Haiku from a Tiny Tea Cup

I shared lunch with my Grandma again this afternoon and we talked over a bowl of her hearty caldo de res and finished it off with some flan.  While the food is always wonderful, the time with her is most filling. :)

Today, she was talking about her trip to Japan and the beautiful tea sets she saw. (She has quite the affinity for tea sets.)  Because she has so many as it is, she didn't want to buy another set and risk it being damaged on the trip back home, so she asked the lady if she could buy just one cup.  The lady went to the back and returned apologetically saying she could not sell her just one cup.  As my grandparents were walking out the door, the lady handed them a bag and smiled.  Once outside, my Grandma unwrapped it and found the cup and saucer she was eyeing.  What a sweet gift: one perfect little cup and saucer.  Although the picture makes it look rather big, it is tiny, adorable.  A cutie doesn't even fit in it!  She gave it to me today and said, "Now you have a piece of Japan in your home, mija." 

A haiku inspired from our lunch today:

Nomu

I can't see the green
of your leaves, but I taste tea
from your tiny cup.