Bashō poems

An old pond-
a frog leaps in,
the sound of water

This is the most famous haiku in the USA, but out of the readings it was my least favorite. It is still wonderful, and I remember the first time I read this poem. I had a sudden revelation, it was like I was transplanted into the world that Bashō must have envisioned when he wrote this.

A cat's wife-
grown thin from
love and barley?

I love that this poem is not only talking about starvation but also having too much sex. I did not realize that Bashō made poetic jokes, but reading this made me giggle and smile. I was also stuck with the cruelty that is inside this poem, how uncaring Bashō seems to be about this poor cat.

Withering winds-
the face of a man
pained by swollen cheeks

This poem is my favorite out of the readings. I love how clearly it sets the setting, and the emotion in this poem is the strongest out of the three. The words 'withering' and 'pained' and 'swollen' are very strong words, much stronger than 'grown thin'. Also, I think that this poem fits any setting; even people in Kyuushuu have strong winds that agitate their faces just how there are gold wind that do the same in Hokkaido.

I GOT IT TO WORK AGAIN!!!

YEAH!

So I have no idea what was wrong with this blog, only that it would not work for a while... but the Mujou Gods have saved my blog! Now it is back! Whoohoo!