Haiku for Nature Lovers LRR, March 21, 2018February 8, 2025 Elizabeth Sankey I love nature writing and have always been intrigued by the thoughts of poets such as Robert Hass, Ralph Waldo Emerson, Louise Gluck, and Henry David Thoreau. To explore deeper into the world of nature writing, I have been reading haiku, which hold their roots in nature contemplation and appreciation. The brevity of the haiku seems to symbolically mirror the simple beauty of nature – a lot of emotion is evoked from something that is seemingly very simple, with a meaning that may seem, to the naked eye, very obvious. The haiku also is associated with the nature of meditation, which in itself is a feeling or state of being that can be accessed and felt while immersed in the natural world. If you love nature writing, explore haiku. Here the five haiku artists that have been considered to be masters, accompanied by three of their haikus to explore: Yosa Buson Dawn (Translated by Robert Hass) Dawn— fish the cormorants haven’t caught swimming in the shallows. Before The White Chrysanthemum (Translated by Robert Hass) Before the white chrysanthemum the scissors hesitate a moment. Early Summer Rain (Translated by Robert Hass) Early summer rain— houses facing the river, two of them Matsuo Basho A Bee (Translated by Robert Hass) A bee staggers out of the peony. The Old Pond (Translated by Robert Hass) The old pond- a frog jumps in, sound of water. A Snowy Morning (Translated by Robert Hass) A snowy morning— by myself, chewing on dried salmon. Kobayashi Issa A Huge Frog And I (Translated by Robert Hass) A huge frog and I, staring at each other, neither of us moves. Summer Night (Translated by Robert Hass) Summer night— even the stars are whispering to each other. The Crow (Translated by Robert Hass) The crow walks along there as if it were tilling the field. Fukuda Chiyo-ni a dandelion (Translated by Patricia Donegan and Yoshie Ishibashi) a dandelion now and then interrupting the butterfly’s dream cool clear water (Translated by Patricia Donegan and Yoshie Ishibashi) cool clear water and fireflies that vanish that is all there is… without voice (Translated by Gabriel Rosenstock) without a voice the heron would disappear – morning snow Masaoka Shiki Mountains In Spring Mountains in spring overlapping each other all round crimson sunset crimson sunset even though clouds vernal equinox autumn is leaving autumn is leaving tugging each others’ branches two pine trees Related Blog