John Cage’s Mushroom Haiku . . . Mesosticized
by Stefano Pocci BasHō once wrote A poem: “Matsutake Ia shiranu Ko no ha no hebaritsUku” BlytHe trAnslated It liKe this: “The leaf of some Unknown tree is sticking on the musHroom”. The jApanese composer TakemItsu rephrased it as “Mushroom does not Know that leaf is sticking on it”. EventUally JoHn CAge decIded to maKe his own versions spiced with his Unmistakable Humour: “ThAt that’s unknown brIngs mushroom and leaf together.” But he liKed this one above all: “What leaf? What mUshroom?” From Stefano Pocci’s “John Cage in Italia” website, posted to the site’s blog on 20 February 2014. You can listen to a 1972 recording of John Cage describing Bashō’s haiku about mushrooms that led to the versions referred to in Stefano Pocci’s mesostic poem. Also note that the reference to “Blythe” should be “Blyth.” |