dull day --
the way a raindrop
runs down the banana leaf


—Sandra Simpson

This haiku previously appeared in the journal Kokako (New Zealand).

About the author: Sandra lives in Tauranga, New Zealand, a harbourside city full of promise (and estuaries). She is the editor of Haiku NewZ, a monthly internet newsletter for readers and writers of haiku. She is also secretary of the Katikati Haiku Pathway Focus Committee - the pathway now features 27 boulders engraved with haiku, including one by Sandra, on a riverside walk in Katikati, a small town north of Tauranga.

9 responses
send to a friend
published 19 December 2007
in

 

Responses to the haiku for 19 December 2007 by Sandra Simpson

  1.  
    mike farley
    2007-12-19 15:57:27
     

    Excellent!

  2.  
    josh wikoff
    2007-12-19 16:25:25
     

    brown spots
    on the banana
    Basho's Death Day

  3.  
    terrytip
    2007-12-19 18:36:42
     

    Matsuo Basho(1644 - 1694)

    A banana plant in the autumn gale -
    I listen to the dripping of rain
    Into a basin at night.

    Basho took his name from the Japanese word for "banana tree." He was given a gift of a banana tree by a student and the poet immediately identified with it: the way the small tree just stood there with its large, soft, fragile leaves.

  4.  
    Magyar
    2007-12-19 18:43:22
     

    Sandra... a fine one_!
    _Often I see the contrary. I hope you'll not be offended by my non-egoistic rewrite, it simply says... as I see.

    this dull day
    runs down the banana leaf
    a rain drop
    _m

  5.  
    Alan Summers
    2007-12-20 05:50:46
     

    Good to see you again on Tinywords! ;-)

  6.  
    b. m. richardson (orgbob at webtv dot net)
    2007-12-20 16:28:18
     

    eureka!!!

    sandra, you've brilliantly illustrated how there comes haiku moments, even on a dull day.
    i further observe dull days being akin to cheese cleansing the intellectual palate...

    -

    feigning my predawn calisthenics--
    this ant lifts
    twice it's weight

  7.  
    laryalee
    2007-12-27 19:32:35
     

    Sandra, this is lovely!
    (Sorry I'm so late getting around to it.)
    The focus is intense, and it can be read in
    various ways. I see it as a moment
    of delight on an otherwise dull day.

    ;)
    Lary

  8.  
    Sandra
    2007-12-28 01:24:28
     

    Thanks so much for the comments - the haiku was written while on holiday in Vanuatu (Pacific Melanesia) in 2006. There was a small banana palm right outside the villa window and, on a rainy day, I looked carefully at the rain and the palm (and watched the former roll off the latter) as there wasn't much else to do! A true haiku moment ... and one that sneaked up on me.
    Happy 2008 to you all.

  9.  
    Tricia
    2008-04-01 15:12:53
     

    not exactly my taste

Post your own response

(required):

(required):

Display your address?

(optional):

Notes
A copy of your comment will be sent to you, to the site editor, and, if possible, to the author of this haiku. Your email address will not be displayed on tinywords unless you check the box. Comments with URLs will not appear until approved by the editor.



Maximum of 400 characters per comment. You have left.