Walking With Basho**

Note: These haiku (hokku) were written after
reading a book of Basho’s ‘travel logs’. It contained
many of his best and well known poems and prose.

#92
under the old oak
I watch squirrels
chasing their tails.
the oak ignores them.

#93
A breeze ruffles green leaves
as Wrens sing a symphony-
perfect harmony.

#94
I travel in the
company of red guard youth-
we want the whole world.(1)

#95
rushing rivers and
deep gorges block our advance-
great challenges ahead.

#96
Spring blossoms beckon
we smell their sweet aroma-
birds chirp approval.

#97
traveling this road
strewn with shadow and hard ship,
we dare scale great heights.
#98
rain and wind harass
the rabbits fur and spirit-
he sits stoically.

#99
scared of its shadow,
a frog leaps from its lily-
silence is broken.

#100
a burning man looks
at the desert’s dry land scape-
he paints large cacti. (2)

redzone/Aztec Warrior 8.20.12

(1) Red Guard were youth during the Cultural Revolution in China
under the leadership of Mao Tsetung and the genuine revolutionaries
in the Chinese Communist Party. They made revolution within the revolution
inspiring millions world-wide and preventing capitalist-roaders from
seizing power for 10 years. When Mao died, these reactionaries seized power and today we can see the ugly horrific exploitation and oppression the masses of Chinese face again today.

(2) Burning Man is an art festival in the desert of Nevada that began as an expression of creativity and defiance of the prevailing American culture.
But like everything in this society, it has been corrupted into a festival
where buying and selling once again contaminates. There are though still some aspects of the open art and creativity that remains.