haikaiTALKS: a saturday gathering! 6th July

haikaiTALKS: season words / seasonal reference | a saturday gathering_under the banyan tree

host: Lev Hart

6th July 2024

haikaiTALKS: a saturday gathering_under the banyan tree

THE SEASONS: Part 5

In this week’s haiku, the poet does not tell us whether the daughter is alive, or dead:

         holding his daughter’s hand

         beneath the rubble

         winter stars

         Robert Kingston HAIKUsutradhar, Feb 09, 2023

Instead, he infers the tragedy through the kigo: “winter stars.” Winter is the season of death. If the kigo were “spring stars,’ the daughter’s fate would be entirely unclear. The haiku would be at odds with itself.

Of course, Winter is not necessarily the season of death. In a different context, the reader might associate “winter stars” with silence, or myriad other possibilities. Death comes to the fore of possible meanings only because the season is contextualized by “holding his daughter’s hand / beneath the rubble,” just as the moment is contextualized by “winter stars.” The daughter’s death finds its place in the eternal circle of life, the cycle of seasons.

In all of the haiku that we have read over the last four weeks, the connection between the season and the moment creates a kind of harmony. The images are beautified by the harmony, even if they include a daughter’s death in the rubble.

Your mission, should you choose to accept it, is to write two haiku, using kigo for Winter. You can choose a kigo from one of the saijiki below, or you can make up your own. Use the kigo to represent the season and add a phrase that shows us the moment.

The 500 Essential Japanese Season Words:

         http://www.2hweb.net/haikai/renku/500ESWd.html#NEW%20YEAR-THE%20HEAVENS

indian subcontinent SAIJIKI:

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