haikaiTALKS: a saturday gathering! 10th august

haikaiTALKS: haiku aesthetics - wabi | a saturday gathering_under the banyan tree

host: Lev Hart

10th August 2024

haikaiTALKS: a saturday gathering_under the banyan tree

Peipei Qiu defines wabi as, “An aesthetic and moral principle that finds beauty in austere types of things and seeks spiritual and poetic depth in a modest, simple life” (“Basho and The Dao,” p. 217.) Lakshmi’s haiku exemplifies wabi:

       arthritic imprints

       in the dung cakes ---

       winter twilight

       (HAIKUsutradhar, Jan. 1, 2023; subsequently revised.)

Dung cakes are made by women in rural India to fuel the hearth; the handprints remain in the cakes after they are laid out to dry. From the handprints, the poet can see that at least one of the women who made them has arthritis. The kigo tells us that both the season and the day have grown old, suggesting that the woman is advanced in years. Winter is associated with hardship in haiku tradition, so poverty appears to be the reason why she must continue her painful work. In my correspondence with Lakshmi, she writes, “i dedicate this poem to all the ladies who go through this.”

The moral principle of wabi finds beauty in working to live, as opposed to seeking material gain. If wabi had a slogan, it might be, “Live simply, so others can simply live.” We can see this idea actualized in the people’s symbiotic relationship with the cattle. The people care for the cattle, instead of slaughtering them. The cattle, in turn, provide a sustainable energy source. As an aesthetic principle, wabi finds beauty in the dung cakes, austere monuments to human labour and coexistence with nature.

We can see Qiu’s “poetic depth” in the juxtaposition. Tinged with the perpetual cycle of seasons, Lakshmi’s phrase expresses the endurance of both the women and the rural way of life in India. The kigo deepens the meaning of the phrase, while the phrase narrows the possible meanings of the kigo. The season is distilled into the moment; the moment is subsumed into the perpetual.

Your mission, should you decide to accept it, is to write two haiku with wabi. Focus on austere beauty, rather than the gorgeous. If your haiku include human figures, show them as part of the natural world. Remember the kigo.

Your host for haikaiTALKS Lev Hart

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Thank you for doing this for us, Lev.

Members,

Please give your feedback on others' commentary and poems too. _()_

This is an exciting phase for haikaiTALKS! Have fun! Keep writing and commenting! _kala