In Secret

[purplie]

[This is to be considered a single poem.]

---

In secret

In secret
A frog decides
Not to jump

Eight Frogs

"I went last summer. 
You couldn't hear the plashing 
For all the croaking."

A near pond too old, 
A far pond too cold. 
The third, they speak French.

Summer full of flies 
Frogs are all gorging themselves 
Their bellies dragging

In secret 
The toad hoped 
Someone would ask

Next year, same old pond. 
Plash. Rebellious youths jump in — 
They invented it.

Old pond, wet and cool 
All my friends are there 
Why do I hold back?

The frog loves to boast 
That it never never jumps. 
Well, hardly ever.

An old pond 
An old frog 
Companionable silence

Epilogue

Sur une perle de rosée 
Grenouille microscopique 
Ne songe pas à sauter.

[wasellajam]

Thanks for a fun read. First thoughts:

[This is to be considered a single poem.]

---

In secret

In secret
A frog decides
Not to jump
Started with a smile.

Eight Frogs

"I went last summer. 
You couldn't hear the plashing 
For all the croaking."

A near pond too old, 
A far pond too cold. 
The third, they speak French.
Goldilocks.

Summer full of flies 
Frogs are all gorging themselves  Frogs gorging themselves?
Their bellies dragging

In secret 
The toad hoped 
Someone would ask
Love

Next year, same old pond. 
Plash. Rebellious youths jump in —  Young rebels?
They invented it.
Love this.

Old pond, wet and cool 
All my friends are there 
Why do I hold back?
Big old meh, didn't hit like the rest.

The frog loves to boast 
That it never never jumps. 
Well, hardly ever.

An old pond 
An old frog 
Companionable silence
Smile because I relate.

Epilogue

Sur une perle de rosée 
Grenouille microscopique 
Ne songe pas à sauter.
Gorgeous.
The translation I got is

On a dewdrop
a microscopic frog
doesn't even think about jumping.

[purplie]

Sur une perle de rosée 
Grenouille microscopique 
Ne songe pas à sauter.
Gorgeous.
The translation I got is

On a dewdrop
a microscopic frog
doesn't even think about jumping.

Thanks for the comments.

Ne songe pas à sauter can mean either "[it] doesn't even think about jumping" or the imperative, "Don't even think of jumping!"

[matsunosuperfan]

Sorry, I found this all very boring and forgettable. Haiku about frogs. Never got off the ground for me. Conceit did not convince me it needed to exist in the world.

Why the poemy word "plashing"

I don't think the project makes sense. The way haiku generate sensibility and heat isn't working with this serialised form. They want to be individually pregnant with meaning but also cohere into some kind of meta narrative? It feels like a big puzzle I don't much care to solve. And the register seems undecided about whether it wants to be cheeky and whimsical or Important and Deep

---

Ok speaker has some interesting thoughts about frogs, maybe just ditch the tiresome and overbearing haiku crown conceit

I think this dude would be a lot more interesting if allowed to speak in fuller sentences

[purplie]

Sorry, I found this all very boring and forgettable. Haiku about frogs. Never got off the ground for me. Conceit did not convince me it needed to exist in the world.

Fair enough. It will fall flat for most people, because you have to know about the classic haiku by Matsuo Bashō, 

古池や蛙飛びこむ水の音 furu ike ya / kawazu tobikomu / mizu no oto
   an ancient pond / a frog jumps in / the splash of water

Or the book "One Hundred Frogs: From Renga to Haiku to English" which is "An in-depth literary study and collection of over a hundred different English translations and interpretations of Bashō's classic old pond frog poem across time, tracing how the short verse evolved from traditional renga and hokku into global haiku."

This poem is a lighthearted answer to it: what about the frogs that don't jump?