haikaiTALKS: season words / seasonal reference | a saturday gathering_under the banyan tree
host: Lev Hart
8th June 2024
haikaiTALKS: a saturday gathering_under the banyan tree
Classic haiku were written as if their poets sought to accomplish a goal expressed by the English poet, Willam Blake:
To see a World in a Grain of Sand
And a Heaven in a Wild Flower
Hold Infinity in the palm of your hand
And Eternity in an hour.
In Keiko Izawa’s verse last week, we saw the spring moon in “mother darning a sock / by the window.” This week, in Lorraine Haig’s haiku, we see the heat in a postapocalyptic hellscape.
midday heat ... horizon to horizon
the iron ore train
Lorraine Haig, (HAIKUsutradhar, Jan 06, 2023; published in Echidna Tracks, Issue 11)
We can assume that the season is Summer since L1 combines two Summer kigo, “heat” and “midday sun.” The haiku occurs at the hottest time of day and the hottest time of the year. The essence of the season --- heat --- has been distilled into a visual image, “horizon to horizon / the iron ore train.” The heat, as well as the fact that the poet can see from “horizon to horizon,” suggests that she is watching a train roll across the desert. In both Keiko’s verse and Lorraine’s, the unity of the season with the moment evokes depth, awe, the sublime --- yugen. The unity also creates sabi. The season, the train, the environmental apocalypse --- all shall pass. Lorraine’s train, for all its heaviness, is as ephemeral as Keiko’s mother, darning in the moonlight.
This week, we see again that seasonal references deepen haiku. Your mission, should you choose to accept it, is to write two haiku, using summer kigo. Use the kigo to represent the season and add a phrase that shows us the moment, as Keiko shows us the spring moon in her mother by the window, or as Lorraine shows us summer heat in an endless train. Both of these saijiki are user-friendly:
The 500 Essential Japanese Season Words:
indian subcontinent SAIJIKI:
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
Hello, everyone!
I've sent this week's haiku to the editors.
#2 Jun 21
scissor heat
a caw-caw-caw
cuts into the noon
Anju Kishore, India
(Feedback welcome)
#1 Jun 20
Rev 1 thanks Kala and Lev
season's end
our mango tree stands
alone
Anju Kishore, India
(Feedback welcome)
****
season's end
a sigh flies out
of our mango tree
Anju Kishore, India
(Feedback welcome)
2nd Revision: Thanks to Kala
20-06-2024
stillness sliced
a dotted tweet across
the blue sky
Padma Priya
India
*********
Revision: Thanks to Kala
20-06-2024
across the blue sky a dotted tweet slicing the stillness
Padma Priya
India
*****
This was posted by me in writeALONG dt 18-06-2024
I have edited the original version and tried to wrote a monoku for the first time.
I would very much appreciate feedback for the same.
self edit
20-06-2024
across the blue sky a dotted tweet slicing the stillness
Padma Prita
India
Feedback welcome
(Tried a monoku for the first time - hope it works)
*****
#!
18-06-2024
a dotted tweet
floats across the blue sky...
sliced stillness
Padma Priya
India
19th June 2024
#1 feedback welcome
midsummer darkness
the extended family regroups
Amoolya Kamalnath
India