haikaiTALKS: a saturday gathering! 23rd November

haikaiTALKS: ABOUT TREES| a saturday gathering_under the banyan tree

host: Lev Hart 23rd November 2024

haikaiTALKS: a saturday gathering_under the banyan tree

ABOUT TREES

Your host for haikaiTALKS: Lev Hart

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ABOUT TREES

Joanna Ashwell writes, “I would love a prompt relating to trees, - how they relate to the seasons and the emotions that they invoke.” The chart below offers a crude overview of how the seasonal images and related emotional themes might correspond:

IMAGES	SEASONS	THEMES
cherry blossoms plum blossoms spring forest tree buds	Spring	new life, anticipation, excitement, happiness, reunions, friends, romance, peace
green shade shade trees thick leaves thickset leaves	Summer	laziness, relaxation enjoyment, outdoor fun, oppressive heat, relief from the heat, harvest work
autumn birches red leaves falling willow leaves falling yellow leaves falling	Autumn	farewells, grief, loneliness, melancholy, serenity, coming to terms with age
bare trees leaves scattering scattered leaves withered leaves	Winter	seclusion, solitude, boredom, memories, silence, peace (related to silence and stillness), hardship, privation, austere living, coming to terms with mortality

Lorraine Haig shows us how to weave the threads together:

       falling leaves

       my granddaughter

       raises her palms

       (HAIKUsutradhar, Feb 19, 2023.)

The seasonal image, “falling leaves,” can suggest a myriad of emotional themes, related to the Medieval view of Autumn as the time when friends parted company, each household preparing for the rigors of Winter. Autumnal themes, then, include farewells, grief, loneliness, melancholy, serenity, and coming to terms with age. There are countless others.

In any given haiku, the potential meanings of a seasonal image are narrowed by its context with the rest of the verse. In the context of “my granddaughter/raises her palms,” coming to terms with age becomes a prominent theme. The granddaughter appears to be welcoming the leaves’ descent, opening her arms to Autumn. The poet, two generations older, is apparently not doing the same. Perhaps R.H. Blyth’s commentary on a classic haiku sheds light on the contrast between the granddaughter and the poet:

       So with our children, when they say, “Look, papa! I can stretch to this place now!”

       our pleasure is a sadder one than theirs, for it is tinctured with the feeling of time,

       the friend and enemy of mankind.

Even if Lorraine’s poet enjoys both her granddaughter’s enthusiasm and the falling leaves, the pleasure is “a sadder one . . . tinctured with the feeling of time.”

This week’s goal is to write two haiku with seasonal images and themes related to trees. Feel free to use the chart above, if it looks helpful. If you want to compose haiku related to monsoon season, please do.

“A Dictionary of Haiku Classified by Season Words with Traditional and Modern Methods,” by Jane Reichhold:

https://thehaikufoundation.org/omeka/files/original/7fb6654a1dfd1afef97369da920530f8.pdf

indian subcontinent SAIJIKI:

https://www.trivenihaikai.in/indian-saijiki

The Five Hundred Essential Japanese Season Words:

http://www.2hweb.net/haikai/renku/500ESWd.html

The World Kigo Database:

https://wkdkigodatabase03.blogspot.com/

The Yuki Teikei Haiku Season Word List:

https://yths.org/season-word-list/

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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