Haiku Paradox
The Korean boat does
Not pause. Sails cause it to pass,
But where in this haze?
~ Buson
Forking into mist
A stream on the moor is vague
And clear, both, at once.
~ Shirao
An odd boat, foreign in its shape, slips past,
Korean in its shape and veiled in haze.
The hull is visible but forward mast
Must be imagined by the poet’s gaze,
Seen not by darker eyes. The distant place
It comes from and its destination both
Are only conjured in his mind. Each space
Implied in haar is more a mental growth
Than mere reality to him. A stream
Divides a moor in fog. Another eye
Perceives these types of water more like dream
Than ordinary facts. The men ally
These actualities though dual, dim,
With poetry both clearly on their brim.
~ Phillip Whidden