Hot Pursuit

Leaf 85 – Senryu (or, witty tom-foolery)

 

Valdis Baskirovs - Bear Linocut Print (2018)

This 5-7-5 senryu attempts to marry two witticisms into a comedic confluence. First, the well-known aphorism or idiom: ‘Do bears [do something] in the woods?’, and, second, William Shakespeare’s most famous stage direction (from “The Winter’s Tale”): ‘Exeunt, pursued by a bear.’ The end result is hopefully an amusing, if somewhat coarse and bawdy mental image of life in the great outdoors and its occasional, unforeseen perils.

 

 

Having sought relief

in the woods, hiker exits

– pursued by a bear.

 

 

 

This poem was originally written and posted in response to a #haikufeels writing prompt on Bluesky.