writeALONG! 31 October

A TUESDAY FEATURE

hosts: Muskaan Ahuja, Lakshmi Iyer

guest editor: Daipayan Nair

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Only the unpublished poems (that are never published on any social media platform/journals/anthologies) posted here for each prompt will be considered for Triveni Haikai India's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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"Life and death are one thread. The same line viewed from different sides."

– Lao Tzu

One of the most interesting techniques in haiku writing is the middle pivot. Nothing makes an image more wholesome than a skilled, old tailor who knows how to stitch it into a fine garment. A well crafted pivot is that old tailor.

To create a good pivot, first of all, it's essential to minutely observe and understand the nuances of an image. Everything that moves around us or is still, is an image, and every image is a pivot for the other.

I invite you all to find that old tailor through your haiku and senryu just like Chris does:

evening storm

the rumble

of my cat's purr

---- Chris Langer

For today's writing exercise, write a haiku or senryu with a middle pivot. L2 must appeal to both L1 and L3. Don't enforce it. Just observe, understand, create a good juxtaposition, and the pivot will form on its own.

Thanking you all once again.