thinkALONG! 5 December

A TUESDAY FEATURE

hosts: Muskaan Ahuja, Lakshmi Iyer

guest editor: Billie Dee

Please note:

Only the unpublished poems (that are never published on any social media platform/journals/anthologies) posted here for each prompt will be considered for Triveni Haikai India's monthly journal -- haikuKATHA, each month.

Poets are requested to post poems that adhere to the prompts/exercises given.

Only 1 poem to be posted in 24 hours. Total 2 poems per poet are allowed each week (numbered 1,2). So, revise your poems till 'words obey your call'.

If a poet wants feedback, then the poet must mention 'feedback welcome' below each poem that is being posted.

Responses are usually a mixture of grain and chaff. The poet has to be discerning about what to take for the final version of the poem or the unedited version will be picked up for the journal.

The final version should be on top of the original version for selection.

Poetry is a serious business. Give you best attempt to feature in haikuKATHA !!

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A Brief History of Bashō 's Karumi

One of the more difficult haikai concepts to grasp, karumi translates literally as “lightness.” This is not to be confused with the Western term “light verse,” such as greeting card rhymes or humorous quips. Instead, karumi is “light-hearted” and “light-handed,” avoiding heavy or flowery diction and imagery, while embracing the everyday speech and experience of common folk.

In the last years of his life, Matsuo Bashō worked obsessively to perfect a new style of poetic expression through the balance of two basic precepts: sabi and karumi.

come, butterfly it’s late— we’ve miles to go together

— Bashō (1644-1694) tr. Lucien Stryk

Bashō’s revisionist teachings greatly influenced future generations of haijin, particularly Kobayashi Issa. From its beginnings as a humble pejorative term, karumi comes to full fruition in poems such as:

goes out, comes back— the love life of a cat

—Issa (1763-1828) tr. Robert Hass

Here, karumi defines the difference between the subtle and the banal, the child-like and the childish.

Prompt: Share one of your treasured classical haikai and tell us how it inspires you to employ karumi in your own work. Learning to analyze poetry is one of the best techniques to improve your own writing. You may, of course, post two of your own karumi-based poems here.