Issa was a "fridge poetry" set for your Mac. It is no longer available; it has been bought by Mariner Software, and has been re-released under the name Desktop Poet.

We have high hopes that this will allow Issa to become a much better (and better-selling!) product than we were able to achieve; it will, we hope, reach its true potential. We love it, so, as per the cliché, we set it free.

Issa was named after Kobayashi Issa (1763–1827), my favorite poet. I love Issa for many reasons, but his sense of humor is one of the most wonderful things about him. Here's one, as composed in Issa.app, that makes me laugh every time I read it:

This translation is by Robert Hass. In return for this usage, may I urge you to go buy 'The Essential Haiku' (edited by Hass, with many translations by him), a truly wonderful book. I would also like to thank The3dStudio.com for their contribution to Issa.

We will continue to provide basic support for existing users of Issa, but there will be no new versions of it released by us. There is an online manual available (for a PDF version of this manual that can be used offline, click here). Supplemental word lists for Issa can be downloaded from here. Poetry made by users can be viewed here. We are no longer accepting submissions of word lists and poetry; these pages are closed.