Basho's Haiku

The following series of haiku are based on Matsuo Basho's famous The Old Pond and frog haiku.They are my interpretations.Basho invented the haiku form.I just read the article titled Masters of Short Poetry (November 15,2008 Providence Journal Books) about him on the home page and found this challenge in his poetry section on PoemHunter where several poets have written their interpretations based on translations.All of the stanzas in my tribute haiku are written in the three-lined 5-7-5 syllable format.It reflects how I feel about Matsuo Basho's inspirational poem.I thank him for inventing this short poem style. Matsuo Basho master haiku creator frog old pond splashing The croaking frog leaps under the lily covered pond splashing bubbles Silently bubbles follow the path leaping frogs trail in the old pond Frozen pose Zen frog release then leaps under pads the old pond's secret The fourth haiku in this series is dedicated to a pet Zen frog we had named Prince Phroggy.This tiny species will strike a suspended pose and freeze motionless in the water for several minutes and then release itself suddenly from a Zen meditative state and swim very rapidly.If you keep several in an aquarium they will perform the frog version of synchronized swimming. A green flash splashing diving from lotus blossoms wary eyes peeking The old pond draws thoughts What happens under water? Frogs play happily. Many green frogs jump into the murky water ancient pond absorbs Ancient pond song shared by little green or bullfrogs needeep ribbit splash Why does the frog jump into the old pond's waters? To avoid the pan.