With apologies, and unpermissioned gratitude, to Wallace Stevens, Busan (18th century Japanese poet, and Robert Hass, who brought them together in his book, “The Essential Haiku”:
“Among twenty snowy mountains
The only moving thing
Was the eye of the blackbird.”
—Stevens
“On the whole, it is a bother to keep up relationships with people in this world.”
—Busan
“When old Unraku was staying in Edo, in Nakabushi, he bought a keg of rice wine and a year’s supply of grain and kept himself in complete isolation. In the summers he composed haiku every day and kept them in a notebook.”
—Busan