in winter’s midst
standing on the empty pier
a snowdrop
long winter day
passes in a flash of light
sunset
© G.s.k. ‘15
This post is dedicated to my friend Elena of Elena ed Orlando
Carpe Diem Haiku Writing Techniques #25 The Technique of Narrowing Focus
ake yasuki yo wo iso ni yoru kurage kana
the short night ending–
close to the water’s edge
a jellyfish
© Yosa Buson
amenohiya madakini kurete nemuno hana
A rainy day
Quickly falls the night–
Silk-tree blossoms
© Yosa Buson
the whole sky
in a wide field of flowers
one tulip
© Jane Reichhold
in the moonlight
Wisteria flowers look fragile –
a gust of wind
© Chèvrefeuille
Bella la poesia, ma chi è quell’individuo sul pontile?
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Of course a old women…
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LOL … niente affatto mia cara! E’ la bucaneve che annuncia la primavera! Ti ringrazio di cuore per la giornata e le foto che ho potuto scattare. 🙂
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Beautiful imagery – and meaning. I wonder about ”standing.”
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The “snowdrop” is the woman on the pier .. so standing. Personally I was wondering about an acorn giving birth …
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Ahhh….
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😉 Happy new year Hamish …
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That moment when the first snowflake falls! Marvelous!
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🙂 well Carol .. a snowdrop is actually a flower, it’s the first sign of spring, they push themselves up through the snow when the sun becomes warm – here my friend is like a snowdrop in my winter showing me signs of a new spring: (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Galanthus) I don’t know if they are found in your area of the U.S. or if they go by the same name. So .. my reference was to a touch of spring
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Ahh. No I’ve never heard of a flower with that name but that doesn’t mean there isn’t lone. Thanks Georgia!
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My pleasure … I’ve learnt about the craziest things writing haiku and sometimes the odd flower or whatever will throw the meaning off, which is why some of the classical ku written by Issa or Buson etc. make no sense to us, until someone gives us a little background. 🙂
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🙂
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I like the first haiku a lot – one of my daughters has Snowdrop as her middle name.
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I think snowdrops are really fantastic and you were so cool to give one of your daughters such a lovely middle name. Until now, I’ve been writing as Bastet … which was the pen-name I adopted when I opened my blog. I was wondering if Snowdrop wouldn’t be more suitable for my haiku name … I’m in the spring of my winter, what do you think Suzanne.
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By that reckoning I must be in the same spring. I do like Bastet though – it sounds
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Sorry. I accidentally posted before I finished. It sounds mystical and very learned. 🙂
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Hmmm … and most people already know me as Bastet too.
Bastet isn’t among the learned .. she was first known as Bast in the lower Kingdom of Egypt whilst Sekhmet was her counter-part in the Upper Kingdom and they were fierce lion goddesses of war. Usually the gods and goddesses became one entity when the Kingdoms were united but that didn’t happen with Bast and Sekhmet. Bast went on to become a major protector diety against against contagious diseases and evil spirits but then was attributed many other “jobs” … in the end she became the Goddess of cats, protection, joy, dance, music, family, and love. At first she was a sun goddess but when the Greeks occupied Egypt she became a moon goddess.
My other half – Sekhmet, was a daughter of Ra the sun and a fierce warrior, it was said that her breath created the desert, she was the protector of the pharaohs and led them into war, she was also the goddess of justice. to sum it up she became the goddess of fire, war, dance, love, and medicine. Bastet and Sekhmet in my earlier Library of Akasha stories have Bastet as being patient and wise whereas Sekhmet loves to mete out justice and brimstone, but is a little silly because she gives herself too much importance. I’m their human who communicates with the outside world 😉
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As I said – you are very learned. I enjoyed reading this synopsis of some Egyptian mythology. I love the image of the cat headed goddess and recently found one I intend to use in art work this year. I definitely think you should continue to be the human who communicates Bastet and Sekmet’s knowledge to the outside world. The world needs it. 🙂
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Lol — well thanks for the advice and thanks for reading through that long comment! I will continue to be Bastet. 🙂
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these are treasures. I’m always filled with hope when I see the first snowdrop. I have them planted near my back door so I can see them going out and coming in.
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I know what you mean Candy … they are such a pleasure to behold poking out of the snow! Happy new year and thanks for a great 2015.
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I loved them both. Loved the story behind “snowdrop”. Awesome!
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Glad you enjoyed them … and the story behind snowdrop … 😉
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This is truly beautiful…snowdrop…:) well I could send over some of ours now 😉 and love that sunset image, passes so quickly but the memory is forever imprinted.
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My snowdrop is the flower version … but I’ll gladly accept a couple of your snowdrops! In fact, it’s snowing on the mountain behind my house and they say it may snow here in the valley tonight too!
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I hope you get a soft coat of the white stuff if only to wet your cheek on a walk outside:)
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Nothing doing for the soft coat of white … the sun is up and skies clear this morning!
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Bon Matin, bella! x
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🙂
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Nice examples of using the narrowing focus technique Georgia
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Thanks Chèvrefeuille, I may have read about the technique somewhere, but I certainly didn’t remember it … it was a very interesting discovery.
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