HAIKUsutradhar : 18th April 2025
- Gauri
- Apr 18
- 3 min read
A FRIDAY FEATURE
Host: Gauri Dixit
Prompter for April: Lorraine Haig
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.
FEEDBACK GUIDELINES ( Included as a guideline, please do not be constrained by these while proving feedback )
Let the feedback be specific and constructive. Don’t be vague. Here are some helpful lines you could use to give feedback.
What is working for me :
1. The seasonal reference is good.
2. The image is very clear.
3. I love the internal rhythm.
4. When read aloud, the poem flows well.
5. The 'cut' which is so important in haiku is effectively done here.
6. I like the format ...it's short,long, short. Nice
7. I love the indent you have given
Points that aren't working for me:
1. The image is abstract
2. The lines are long.
3. Some words are redundant and can be safely removed.
4. The lightness of haiku isn't here.
5. Abstract words take away the haiku's charm
6. There is no 'cut' (kire) in this haiku.
7. There are two kigo (seasonal words) in this ku.
8. This is reading more like free verse.
9. This ku is reading as three separate lines. There is no connect.
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 Only post unpublished verses --- nothing that has appeared in peer-reviewed or edited journals, anthologies, your webpage, social media, etc.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.
12. Notification about all selected poems for each issue will be posted on CELEBRATION -on 10th of each month.
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
<> <> <>
PROMPT:
18th April
Lorraine Haig
<>
Week 3
Clouds
Where I live it is rare to have a day without clouds. Weather here is a daily conversation. Perhaps you might look out the window and decide whether or not to take an umbrella or just enjoy a day without clouds. We’ve all heard expressions like “the dark cloud of depression”, “a cloud over your head”. Of course, cloud expressions can be positive as well. “on cloud nine” or “every cloud has a silver lining”.
How do clouds affect you and your surroundings?
whipping egg whites –
the sound
of clouds
Ti’gr
leaden sky
this dead finch
weighs nothing
Carolyn Hall
wind change
a magpie points its beak
to the clouds
Sabrina Blom
clear sky
the vendor sells clouds
of cotton candy
Geethanjali Rajan
<>
Looking forward to reading your haiku. Poems outside the prompt can also be posted.
Write on! Gauri
27.4.25
#1
sudden dark clouds their faces darken
Devoshruti Mandal
India
Feedback welcome.
#1
red panties
washed in the stream
pinking clouds
Sarah E. Metzler
USA
Feedback welcome
#2
Revised. Thank you, Joanna!
night sleep
on a new cloud mattress
the endless turning
Original:
night sleep
on new cloud mattress
the endless turning
Ranu Jain, Australia
Feedback welcome.
24/4/25
forest primeval
clouds of smoke
signal the loss
Marilyn Ashbaugh
USA
feedback welcome
(in memory of trees)
#2 (24 April, 2025)
cloudy eyes
the faces she does not recognize
Miera Rao, USA
Feedback welcome.