The Japanese maples in autumn are in all their fiery beauty. Wandering around Kyoto with my camera I felt the need to write poetry. Hence these two haiku, the form in English is a reduction to 17 syllables (count ‘em!). I’m sure that much of the subtlety of the Japanese haiku is lost, but one can only do what one can do.

The first haiku is from the viewpoint of my monochromatic camera, left behind in the hotel room because this is a world awash in color:

In Kyoto autumn colors
Sad mono camera
Stays behind

The second haiku has to do with crossing the Katsura River and taking the path along the river and up through the autumn woods to the Daihikaku Senkoji Temple. Bashi wrote several haikus related to this temple in the 1600s.

The footsteps of Basho
I arrive at Senkoji
Autumn colors