By Peter Anderson Matsuo Basho (1644-1694), Japan’s most famous poet, was and still is known as a master of the haiku, a short poetic form consisting of three lines, often but not always arranged in a sequence of five-then seven-then five syllables. Dear Basho, You were born three and half centuries ago on the other side of the earth, but the word pictures you left us are as clear as the water in a shallow mountain stream. Sometimes we learn your poems in school. Maybe the teacher begins with your most famous poem, the one about the frog and the ...