Eaglets

March 2026

Longboat Key, Sarasota

Days before the eaglets take flight, perched on a branch, taking it all in. The Branching phase last 9 to 10 weeks. After taking flight, the eaglets will be gone by May.

Eaglets,

waiting their turn

— beware, it’s a wild world

Eaglets on a branch overlooking Sarasota Bay

First Snow

crocus in the snow

Winter’s not over. Not yet. But somewhere the crocus are blooming and the snow has gathered on the leaves of the daffodil and the narcissus, bending them down. Someone once told me that is how one knows Spring is soon coming.

初雪や
水仙の葉のたわ
むまで
Hatsuyuki ya
suisen no ha no tawa
mu made

First snow, last snow, let me know — with AI, is anybody thinking for one’s self? My English rendering of Matsuo Basho’s haiku that keeps the figurative meaning if not literally so.

first snow, new year—
just enough so its bending
the daffodil leaves

— Matsuo Basho, 1686

Yes,, it is true that in Japanese, the word 水仙 (すいせん, suisen) can mean both daffodil and narcissus. I confess, I too am not sure of the difference and whether it matters.

crocus in the snow

初雪や / 水仙の葉のたわ / むまで

Eagle

Early March 2026

Longboat Key, Sarasota

An eagle nest

high in a tree

on the lee side of the island

overlooking Sarasota Bay.

Two eaglets,

nearly grown,

almost ready to fly.

An Audubon lady

watches the chicks,

camera clicking away.

The parents are off feeding.

Soon one eagle returns

to keep watch.

Soon the day will come

when they teach them

to fish.

Such good parents.

.

Eagle —

keep watching.

Your chicks have not flown.

.

An eagle

keeps a sharp eye out,

wary of the world.

.

How is it

that birds get along

and we can’t?

.

Note

The birds I saw are Bald Eagle chicks. Along the bay they usually fledge (take their first flight) around March or early April, so my timing is spot on. After they fly, the parents still bring them fish for a few weeks while they learn to fish for themselves.

Then they are off on their own.

Sea Shells

March 2026

Longboat Key, Sarasota

Mostly six syllable haiku.

A morning walk along the beach on Longboat Key in Sarasota, Florida, a gentle breeze, what it means to be all alone in a city 56,000 people.

Through the portal,

On the Beach

— Nevil Shute

Alice’s Looking Glass

“If I had a world

of my own,

everything

would be nonsense.

Nothing would be

what it is,

because everything

would be what it isn’t.

And contrary wise,

what is,

it wouldn’t be.

And what it wouldn’t be,

it would.

You see?”

Pretty shells.

The shore.

For free

.

If the ocean and the shore had a political theory, would it be Dao Dejing?

More political theory:

Gather, collect, conform.

We are prisoners, confined to the structures we create. Michel Foucault

Broken shelves,

Broken hearts,

Broken dreams.

.

What is a rebel, but a man who says no-Albert Camu. We shall return to this thought

All politics is local, says tip O’Neill. Federalism takes into account, the large in the small, the rural in the urban. This helps to avoid the tyranny of the majority.

The waves,

The foam,

Repeat.

.

In terms of texture, clam shells come in three varieties: spiky, ribbed, and smooth The color is very from white to black my favorite is the silvery iridescent shell that looks like pearl. Because these are so fragile, they are all almost always broken. Does part of their beauty lie in the fact that they uncommon? 

The birds,

Flapping,

Their wings

.

Seagulls,

Sandpiper,

And fools

.

How to describe a sand pepper:

Long beaks,

Long legs,

Small heads

.

Blue ocean,

so vast,

No wind

.

 me,

On the beach,

Alone 

Back through the portal.

“What is a rebel? A man who says no.” Camus

Or a man on the beach with no shoes 

A pond

Ask Matsuo Basho how a pond becomes a poem, he’ll respond:

How can a pond become a poem, because it’s muddy because it’s clear because it’s cold because it’s there because a frog decides to jump and make a splash.

Maybe, you had to be there. I acknowledge, it’s not much, — but still, that’s how a pond becomes a poem.

I’ll close with this, it’s February. There are no frogs.

In February

A frozen pond doesn’t speak,

It groans, so to speak

Winter is coming

a snowy scene in Japan

Matsuo Basho, Free verse on Basho themes
January 2026

I spend a winter day hunkered down. I draw a picture of Mt. Fuji on a piece of paper. I compose a poem. The cold wind sings a song of sorrow. A rat finds the ice is bitter. My tea is cold. I listen to a distant bell on the hour. Across the river lies Edo. The snow falls on the bridge that is newly built. People hurry home. An insect sings his final song in the winter garden. The moon fades as I watch. A muffled voice, a sweet song within the palanquin passing on the way to the mountain castle. Where are the warriors in shining armor. The cold of winter, this winter night. A life of peace. Goodnight.

mono no aware, 物の哀れ, the pathos of small things.

Here is a Basho haiku I have not previously come across.

京に飽きて
この木枯や
冬住ひ
Kyō ni akite / kono kogarashi ya / fuyuzumai

I tire of city life,
I long to hear the cold wind whisper —
I retreat to my winter cottage.
.
Tired of this city,
I hear the cold wind calling,
I seek my cottage

— Matsuo Basho, Kyoto, 1691

Composed in the autumn of 1691. Either the cold wind whispers or it calls Basho back to Edo and his humble cottage. It would be his last trip home to Edo. What was home to Basho. First, Ueno where he was born, then the castle where he served his master. Then to Kyoto to study. Then Edo. Then the road itself, as a wandering poet. like Saiygo…

Yamanashi explains: It has been two years since Basho and Sora completed the journey, Oku no Hosomichi (1689). Preparing the book to be, Matsuo Basho has grown tired of Kyoto. He wishes to return to Edo… I long for a rural life where I can hear the cold wind whisper. Or, more likely, when I hear the cold wind call, I long to return.

A greeting poem to the samurai, Suganuma Gon’emon (haiku name, Kōgetsu).

京に飽きて, Kyōni akite, literally, at (に) Kyoto (京), I am bored.

You can also read Gabi Greve’s slightly different translation and explanation.

Winter

snow,, snow, snow, Japanese art

Winter, January 2026

“Winter is coming.” It’s all over the news. It’s January, I wonder what to do in the midst of a storm. Let’s stock up on a few winter haiku by Matsuo Basho.

Winter is coming
Oh, there is snow on the way,
The weatherman says

A monkey caught unawares by the snow and the sleet.

初しぐれ . 猿も小蓑を . ほしげ也
hatsu shigure . saru mo komino o hoshige nari

The first time it snows
even a monkey know what he wants
— a little straw coat.

Out for a ride, after a blizzard, I want to go home but I’m stuck to my seat.

冬の日や. 馬上に氷る . 影法師
uyu no hi ya . bashō ni kōru . kagebōshi

It’s a wintry day
I sit on a horse, frozen,
along with my shadow.

Just when we think, winter’s over …

初雪や . 水仙の葉の . たわむまで
hatsuyuki ya . suisen no ha no . tawamu

The season’s first snow
dumped on a daffodil leaf
— bending, it bows.

To most children, the snow is pretty, to some it’s sad.

霜を着て . 風を敷き寝の . 捨子哉
shimo o kite . kaze o shiki-ne no . sutego kana

All covered in frost,
laying down in the wind, asleep —
an abandoned child.

The snow is pretty
Some children make snow angels,
As some fall asleep

a snowy scene in Japan
A snowy scene, a view of Mt. Fuji, the Met