As you surely have already learned, the number 8 is lucky in many nations of East Asia. That’s apparently because the Chinese character for the number 8 is 八, or bā, which sounds like the word for prosperity (发, or fā). Naturally, the date 08/08/08 is considered lucky by a factor of three, which is why the Beijing Olympics Opening Ceremony began this morning, 08/08/08, at exactly 08:08 AM.
In addition to celebrating Triple-8 Day by re-posting Jim Kacian’s Haiku Primer (see our posting immediately below), the f/k/a Gang thought we’d reprise haiku and senryu that have appeared at this weblog containing the word eight. Much to our surprise, there have been exactly eight of them. Talk about auspicious!
Without further ado, and hoping they bring you and yours all kinds of prosperity and good fortune, here they are:
harvest moon–
the peddler selling
eight cent sake
seven tumble down
eight rise up…
maiden flowers
for eight pennies
the whole family celebrates…
summer ice!
.. by Kobayashi Issa, translated by David G. Lanoue 
for a second time
eight candles
on mother’s birthday cake……………. by Hilary Tann – Upstate Dim Sum
bottom of the 8th
eight determined drunks
get the wave going . . .
… by Tom Clausen – Baseball Haiku (2007)
autumn rain
a hopscotch loses
its eight……by Roberta Beary (3rd place tie, Moonset Haiku Contest, Ed. 4:1)
soap stings my eyes —
an eight-year-old’s face
flashes in the mirror.. by dagosan [Aug. 28, 2004]
crossing the grasslands
eight hundred miles
of burma shave signs
.. by Ed Markowski
bonus written this morning:
dancing
with his 8-year-old
steppin’ light on old toes.. by dagosan (Aug. 8, 2008, for James and Arthur Giacalone)
08-08-08 today
eight archived haikus with ‘8’ –
somewhat suspicious?
:)
Comment by scatterhaiku — August 9, 2008 @ 9:27 am
Hi, Scatter. Thanks for stopping by. If you’d like to learn more about writing real haiku, see out post “is it or ain’t it haiku?“
Comment by David Giacalone — August 9, 2008 @ 10:28 am