Buson’s Deer, Issa’s Rain, Chiyo’s Frog

by Paul Rossiter

1

calling three times

then to be heard no more

the deer in the rain

2

quiet rain falling in spring

long-lasting rain in May

light rain between the end of autumn and the start of winter

fine rain like mist

rain that falls heavily but soon clears

rain that falls in large drops

cooling rain that falls on a summer evening

rain dripping from straw-thatched eaves

3

crouching

peering up at the clouds

a frog

From Passages: Poems 1969–2019 (Tokyo & London: Isobar Press 2024, page 469). This poem is a collage of three “found” poems. Sources. Issa’s rain : Arran Stibbe, Ecolinguistics: Language, Ecology and the Stories We Live By  (Routledge, 2020); Buson’s deer and Chiyo’s frog : Stephen Addiss, Fumiko Yamamoto, and Akira Yamamoto, A Haiku Menagerie : Living Creatures in Poems and Prints (Weatherhill, 1992).