“A Quoi Bon Dire” by Charlotte Mew [w/ Audio]

Seventeen years ago you said
Something that sounded like Good-bye;
And everybody thinks that you are dead,
But I.

So I, as I grow stiff and cold
To this and that say Good-bye too;
And everybody sees that I am old
But you.

And one fine morning in a sunny lane
Some boy and girl will meet and kiss and swear
That nobody can love their way again
While over there
You will have smiled, I shall have tossed your hair.

Poppy Blur [Haiku]

poppies blur by
as the car speeds down
the mountain.

“Autumn” by T. E. Hulme [w/ Audio]

A touch of cold in the Autumn night --
I walked abroad,
And saw the ruddy moon lean over a hedge
Like a red-faced farmer.
I did not stop to speak, but nodded,
And round about were the wistful stars
With white faces like town children.

Frenetic Idyll [Haiku]

rushing water cuts
through a bucolic scene;
yet, it's still calming.

“I’m Nobody! Who are you?” (260) by Emily Dickinson [w/ Audio]

I'm Nobody! Who are you?
Are you - Nobody - too?
Then there's a pair of us!
Don't tell! they'd advertise - you know!

How dreary - to be - Somebody!
How public - like a Frog -
To tell one's name - the livelong June -
To an admiring Bog!

Seller’s Market [Senryū]

it's a seller's market
for snail housing, based
on that cramped shell.

Toothy Mountain [Haiku]

the clouds retreat,
revealing the jagged spires
up the mountainside.

Cobble Sparrow [Haiku]

a sparrow hops
over the cobbles,
seeking seeds.

“Lost in Fog” by Qin Guan [w/ Audio]

The tower has vanished in the fog;
The boat is hidden in moon-shadow;
The perfect peach field cannot be found.
I'm shut in by the cold rain of Spring.
I hear the cuckoo's call at sunset.

Apricot blossoms sent by my friends
In letters received through the post
Cause an assault by countless memories.
A lonely river rounds the mountain,
But why should it flow toward my lost world?

Ride by Night [Kyōka]

a little bird,
on a bit of driftwood,
speeds downriver
in the dusky, fading light.
doesn’t it know it can fly?