A Josku for Basho

Matsuo Basho:
you have not been forgotten ~
buko juice for you!

from our bardic den,
let me offer some pudding ~
fresh from the oven!

I must tell something:
they renamed hokku, for shame!
we am correcting!

why, what’s in a name?
for one thing, therein depends
zappai’s rightful claim!

let’s readjust trends ~
let us uphold the honor
of our haikai friends

we declare therefore:
zappai, being haikai, is
haiku to the core

let’s include in this
senryu’s enhanced status ~
they’re like brod and sis

there are three haikus:
hokku, senryu, zappai ~
not one is bogus!

for who can deny?
each one is a haikai verse,
a truth we stand by

to allay some fears,
we created kindred types ~
enlarged universe

to cut short the hypes,
we’ve opened a new frontier
for bards of all stripes

triku forever!
of Nipponese origin ~
globalized, bigger

if I may put in:
ponds and frogs can’t satiate
today’s kith and kin

let’s inaugurate
a broad millennial Art
with Yamato gate

we should play it smart ~
5–7–5 must remain:
beat of Japan’s heart

to affirm a twain:
7–7 should resound ~
universal strain

I guess we have found
right track for the golden round
on a higher ground

— Jose Rizal M. Reyes
June 17, 2017

(NOTE: Updated June 18, 2017.)