old pond

2012 November PAD Chapbook Challenge- Day 8

Today’s prompt was a very cool one, by guest prompter Daniel Ari: “Talk back to a dead poet. Choose a poem you like by a poet who is no longer living and offer a rebuttal.” There was only one way I could go with this:

Original poem:

old pond…
a frog leaps in
water’s sound

— Matsuo Basho (translated by William Higginson)

My response:

old pond…
after the frog
only ripples

“Frog” is a spring kigo.  For 30 more different translations of Basho’s famous frog poem, check out this page. More poetic responses can be read on the Poetic Asides blog.

Basho’s Frogpond, Revisited

I had a real Basho moment today. I was walking the dog by the pond, when suddenly I heard a loud plop. My first thought was that someone had thrown a large rock into the pond, but looking around, I saw that pup and I were alone. Was it a frog? Not wanting puppy to go ballistic, I didn’t dare approach too close in case it was something he wanted to chase. All I saw were trailing ripples, and for the whole time I stood there, nothing emerged.

old pond
when I look again
only ripples