One push of the door a single step
and the corridor seems to stretch
as far as the eye can see
Takuboku Ishikawa is best remembered for his emphatic and introspective tanka: his poems were accepted by the one of the most important tanka journals of the early 20th century, “Myojo”, when he was only 16.
Takuboku Ishikawa's two major collections of tanka, “Ichiaku no Suna” (“A Handful of Sand”) and “Kanashiki Gangu” (“Sad Toys”), came out in 1910 and 1912. “Sad Toys” was published posthumously in June 1912, two months after he died of tuberculosis at the age of 26.
Haiku by Takuboku Ishikawa
Picture by Mukund Nair
This haiku poem is part of the Naviar haiku music challenge, where artists are invited to make music in response to a weekly assigned haiku poem. Participation is free and there are no limitations in the songs’ length or genre.
You have seven days from the posting of this haiku to submit your track. For information on how to make a submission, visit the Naviar Haiku Music Challenge page.
Submission deadline: 18th December 2019