unlike haiku, concerned with topics
of a more mundane nature, satirizing
human emotions and failings.
somewhere or other
his wife finds flaws
In the whole village
the husband alone
does not know of it
She may have only one eye
but it's a pretty one
says the go-between
The matchmaker
speaks the sober truth
only when drunk
When her daughter
tightens her belly-band
mother's tension slackens
If it's well styled
there are stories about her
the widow's hair
The child who fell over
goes home
to cry
With his apology for wings
as best he can
the duck flies
Judging from the pictures
Hell looks the more
interesting place
The picture that
the guide can't read
he doesn't show them that
The story teller
lets the villain escape-
to tomorrow
The step child
all day long
with his nose running
The younger sister
first ferrets out
the groom's bad habits
A letter from a man
she doesn't much care for
showing it to mother
His own face
he shines daily
the mirror-polisher
Her husband's
becoming a little too kind
weighs on her mind
No harsh words
she just praises a neighbor's
daughter-in-law
He asks the price
of things he doesn't want
til the rain stops
Now that he has a child
he knows all the local dogs
by name
The pediatrician
first takes the pulse
of the stuffed tiger
While he blames
the friend of his son,
he doesn't blame his son
Letting rip a fart
it doesn't make you laugh
when you live alone
