song of the katydid

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song of the katydid–

even the field cow

a connoisseur

#haiku by Kobayashi Issa, translated by David G. Lanoue, Old Pond Comic by Jessica Tremblay

Make up your mind, Snail! (Richard Wright)

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Make up your mind, Snail!

You are half inside your house,

And halfway out!

Haiku by Richard Wright (Haiku: This Other World), cartoon by Old Pond Comics.

being an orphan

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being an orphan

I cast no light…

firefly

haiku by Kobayashi Issa (English translation by David G. Lanoue), illustrated with a cartoon by Jessica Tremblay (Old Pond Comics)

In the distant hills

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In the distant hills

A patch where sunlight touches

The withered meadows.

– haiku by Shiki (trans. by Donald Keene)

Since January 2016, Old Pond Comics is published in Japan. I’ve been working with Emiko Miyashita, a haiku poet who is writing a monthly column on haiku translations for the new journal Haidan. Every month, Emiko sends me three haiku and I provide a haiku-cartoon to accompany her article.

The publisher sends me copies of the journals, but only months after publication, so Emiko occasionally sends me pictures of what the article looks like as soon as she gets her copy.

Here’s a photo of the May 2016 issue showing beautiful Japanese items on her desk. She gave me permission to share this.