A FRIDAY FEATURE
Host: Gauri Dixit
Prompter for May: C.X. Turner
OUR MISSION
1. To provide a new poetry workshop each Friday, along with a prompt.
2. To select haiku, senryu, and haiga each month for the journal, haikuKATHA. Each issue will select poems that were posted in this forum from the 3rd of the previous month to the 2nd of the current month.
SUBMISSION GUIDELINES
1. Post a maximum of two verses per week, from Friday to Friday, numbered 1 & 2. Post only one haiku in a day, in 24 hours.
2. Only post unpublished verses --- nothing that has appeared in peer-reviewed or edited journals, anthologies, your webpage, social media, etc.
3. Only post original verses.
4. For each poem you post, comment on one other person’s poem.
5. Give feedback only to those poets who have requested it.
6. Do not post a variety of drafts, along with a request for readers to choose which they like most. Only one poem is to appear in each original post.
7. Post each revision, if you have any, above the original. The top version will be your submission to haikuKATHA. Do not delete the original post.
8. Do not submit found poetry or split sequences.
9. Do not post photos, except for haiga.
10. haikuKATHA will only consider haiga that showcase original artwork or photos. Post details re: the source of the visual image. If you team up with an artist or photographer, make sure that it’s their original work and that they are not restricted by other publications to share it. We won't be responsible for any copyright issues.
11. Put your name, followed by your country, below each poem, even after revisions.
Poems that do not follow the guidelines may be deleted.
Founder/Managing Editor of haikuKATHA Monthly Journal:
Kala Ramesh
Associate Editors: Ashish Narain Firdaus Parvez Priti Aisola Sanjuktaa Asopa Shalini Pattabiraman Suraja Menon Roychowdhury Vandana Parashar Vidya Shankar
Our poets in RED MOON ANTHOLOGY 2024:
1) Susan Burch, vegetables, Issue 19 (haibun)
2) Lorraine Haig, Tasmania . . . Issue 17 (haibun)
3) Lakshmi Iyer, autumn's . . . Issue 18 (haiku)
4) Linda Papanicoloau, stamp . . . Issue 16 (haiku)
5) Padma Rajeswari, ancestral . . . Issue 24 (haiku)
Hearty congratulations to all our poets.
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This month we focus on bringing colour into our haiku. From the soothing blue of a calm sea to the fiery red of a flame, colours breathe life into poetry. The use of colour in haiku can create a focal point, and enhance the visual imagery. Your reader can also react emotionally to the use of colour in haiku. Think about the colours we have around us in our homes, on the walls, the clothes we choose to wear, the colours we are drawn to, those we like and dislike. Different colours can represent different meanings and emotions, such as love, passion, anger, energy, optimism, happiness, growth, balance, trust, peace, spirituality, wisdom etcbut colour symbolism is always subjective. It can vary according to biological, cultural and personal factors. Contemplate what the different colours means to you, and how this relates to various associated emotions. Each week we will focus on a new set of colours to inspire and this doesn’t have to directly feature in your haiku, simply let it be a source of inspiration.
Image credit: SymbolismGuide.com
Further reading:
An article on What Is Color in Poetry by Dorothea Lasky| Poetry Magazine www.poetryfoundation.org
A chapter of “blue” haiku and senryu in Building Sandcastles, C.X. Turner and James Welsh (2023)
More examples in a presentation on The Use of Colour in Haiku, Patricia McGuire, www.poetrypea.com
PROMPT 1 : blue, violet, pink
03rd May
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Blue is a colour rife with emotion. It is the colour of sorrow and faith, of wisdom and truth. In ancient Egypt, blue was associated with the sky and the Nile River, while in Christianity, it represents divinity and heaven. Blue has many different connotations such as feeling blue (sad), playing the blues (music), having a true-blue friend (loyal). Pink is one of the most eye-catching colours in the world. It occurs in nature just often enough to feel comforting in a similar way to blue skies and verdant plains, but it is also rare enough to catch our attention. It can be associated with love, nurturing and femininity. Think about what the colours blue, violet and/or pink mean to you and let it inspire your haiku.
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winter seclusion
mandarin oranges
in a blue bowl
Pamela A. Babusci, The Haiku Foundation, haiku of the day 13.4.24
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white butterfly
darting among pinks –
whose spirit?
Masaoka Shiki, translated by Lucien Stryk
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Looking forward to a riot of colours.
Write on! Gauri