Rengay Through the Seasons #36 Summary

by Masago: Rengay #36 (May 4-10, 2008) Summary

A Frog's View

Into the pond —
the voices of several poets
grow fainter.

Setting sun — each croak
expressed with love.

Tree limb —
morning rays, warm
on the back.

Chicken in pursuit —
I barely escape under
the wire fence.

Stone outcrop — a fly
comes tantalizingly near.

I hop to centre
lane — an approaching car
grows louder.

The central theme in this rengay is obviously "Frogs". It is in the style of the "from-their-perspective" type of haiku. The first verse is from several haiku like this that I had written in 2005/2006. I therefore thought it would be fun to extend the idea throughout the entire rengay.

Verse 1: This first verse is a parody-like salute to Basho's famous frog verse (Old pond / a frog jumps in / sound of water). It is said that Basho and his students were discussing haiku in a Japanese garden when Basho heard the splash of a frog jumping into a nearby pond. He immediately wrote this haiku. In Japanese haijin circles this is perhaps the most famous haiku in history, being memorized by most school children in Japan.

Verse 2: Male frogs in spring-time croak to attract females for mating. Such croaking is typically carried out in a shallow body of water.

Verse 4: Chickens will eat insects and even frogs if the frogs are little enough.

Please click here for link details and other notes:

http://spreadsheets.google.com/pub?key=pcytHc47X3uDW-H10nkAhAg&gid=0

Click here for the previous rengay in the series.