Heron

(Leaf 89) – Reflection

 

Ohara Koson - Heron under New Moon (c.1900-1910)

This poem was written in response to a wonderfully evocative haiku written and posted on Bluesky by Hirofumi Kaneko (which you can read here), that skilfully creates an alluring image of a wet rice field without mentioning the otherwise overwhelming presence of water. My response attempts to continue and further open-out the elemental allusions, while once again avoiding the immediately obvious:

 

 

Ankle deep –

lifting the heron’s long feathers,

a gentle breeze.