old pond leaping
into mind of frog

old pond leaping –
the mind of frog

old frog
leap from the water
soundlessly

still the rippling mind

old pond
sound fond
frog find

basho

vowels shift
beneath you yet

the frond sounds
remain

the body is 98% water
each cell a tiny pool

basho, i said
you sit in silence

yes, he said
a billion frogs
make little sound

leaping water –
the mind ponding
frog sound

old pond
sound in mind of frog –
pond-old and unsound –
teach again the mind to leap

frog you are old as i
the old leaps flagging
the weary mind

frond-friend
the watersongs sound fallow
without you

old  (      (     (    (   (   (  ( ((frog)) )  )   )   )    )     )      )  pond

old pond
it’s a good thing it wasn’t
a rhinoceros

1. splash
2. 17th-century japan
3. a riverside house in edo
4. matusuo basho 1644–1694
5. a frog-shaped opening
6. a frog
7. an old pond
8. paper
9. a reed pen
10. the mind
11. no mind
12. an instant

basho
frog in the throat
leaps in the mind

frogs on fronds in the bogpond
loghop leap lilypad pools
throngs plodding sodden sink sudden o’er bog brink
think bogfrog fog songs sound cool

old fr spl po ash og nd

old pond
frog leap in
old man’s poem

old pond
frog leap in
old man’s memory

old pond
frog leap in
old man’s sigh

old man
asleep by the pond
toad told the tale

basho
i asked

but what if we weren’t
ready?

as og is to ond, he said
you’d get the water’s lash