In my view a good poem is one in which the form of the verse, and the joining of its two parts, seem light as a shallow river flowing over its sandy bed.

– Matsuo Bashō

When my book Morning Rounds was coming into shape, I was introduced to the form of poetry known as haibun, which became the over-arching form of the book. I couldn’t go far without reading some of the work of Matsuo Bashō, a famous haiku poet of the 1600s, who established the haibun form.

Recently I came across The School of Life’s short video about Bashō from a philosophic perspective, which offers a great overview of his life and perspective.

Bashō used poetry as a practice in appreciating simplicity, and an exercise in self-forgetting, which seems a fine endeavour.