writeALONG 24 June 2025

A TUESDAY FEATURE

hosts: Padma Rajeswari, K. Ramesh

guest editor: Rupa Anand

Only the unpublished poems (that are never published on any social media platform/journals/anthologies) posted here for each prompt will be considered for Triveni Haikai India's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 (haiku/senryu) 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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the way

we shape each other

bonsai tree

-Meredith Ackroyd

Afton, Virginia

This haiku references the very essence of our human journey. The shaping of bonsai reminds me of how we are influenced by various factors in our lives. Be they parents, siblings, spouse, family, situations, relationships, objects or places. For good, bad, ugly, beautiful and indifferent. Here trees are shaped to be stunted - not necessarily in a negative way but to be things of beauty. The process is subtle but certain. The path can be of our own traumas, regrets, missed opportunities or even our joys and triumphs. Perhaps too, it speaks even to the awareness of our mortality and the grace with which we interact with one another.

A simile as a poetic device used to compare two unlike things, creating a vivid image or emphasising a particular quality.

Perhaps, the haijin here can employ this technique to writeALONG.