In the Shadow of Basho Haiku: Living life Camping.

Poems by The Paltry Sum: Detroit Richards 
Sleeping in a can
The crows conspire to wake me:
Clogged claws on roof
Home is where you camp:
Canvas forest beauty scene,
Hobo-dreams afoot.

The dusk is silent
Apart from a single owl
Driving mice indoors
In the blind valley
The one eyed mouse rules supreme!
Camp stove is his throne!

11 Comments

  1. Michelmoreorless
    Reply

    Ah, the simple life. Basho is the best haiku poet and his travels into the far North and into the interior and so forth in Japan my favorite books. If I were younger I hit the open road and live like that. I’d be the ‘one eyed mouse’… Loved this post.

    1. The Paltry Sum
      Reply

      I did it for over five years, some of the time in a tent, some in a camper. It is harsh, uncomfortable, dirty and you are at the mercy of the elements…that said I would not swap my on the road years for anything. I have been inside for six months, I still get excited about indoor showers and hot running water!

      1. Michelmoreorless

        Hot running water is nice, but I too miss my vagabond days — sleeping in the Greyhound bus station in L.A., on benches in New York’s Grand Central Station with my few belongings stashed in a locker (before they tore out all the lockers because of terrorist threats.)

      2. The Paltry Sum

        My sight is ruined in my left eye – partially detatched retina…Im always looking slightly the wrong way with that eye too…Sorry to hear about the war injury. Jerry was cool. Minnesotan jumping mouse…

    3. The Paltry Sum
      Reply

      I meant to add…even though the Japan that I knew and lived in for so long, was far removed from Basho’s Japan, I still recognized it here and there. His haiku capture the spirit of Japan.

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