November 21, 2017 (haiku)

 

spring snowdrops
(now loam feeding worms)
winter’s memory

gsk’17

inspired by:

With Earth’s first Clay They did the Last Man’s knead,
And then of the Last Harvest sowed the Seed:
Yea, the first Morning of Creation wrote
What the Last Dawn of Reckoning shall read.

© Omar Khayyam (Tr. FitzGerald)

Carpe Diem Haiku Kai

Poet’s Corner

 

November 19, 2017 Autumn Reflections (tanka and haiku)

orange squash
bubbling in a pot
silence deepens
then from the window
laughter! children playing ball

evening shadow
in the naked kaki* tree
a last leaf falls

gsk ’17

• kaki – persimmon

OctPoWriMo Day 25 – Morning Haiku and Waka – October 25, 2015

Photo Credits

through the leaves
the splendour of mid-autumn
no thoughts for winter

even as a finch sings
under the hot autumn sun
winter thoughts banished

glorious autumn
the splendour of gold and red
black and white winter

this October morn
gelid days seem far away
and yet a cold wind
whistles through this valley
speaking of ice and snow

© G.s.k. ‘15

haiku my heart at Recuerda Mi Corazon

OctPoWriMo Day 25

Morning Haiku and Waka (Metaphor) – October 24, 2015

unlit lamp
illuminating nothing
sways in the sunshine

splashing
the tea-cup falls on the floor
autumn storms

a lone finch
singing on the roof tops
solo no renga

moon at the window
fills the room with ghostly light
echoing regrets

the kitten pounces
her bushy tail twitching
a single feather

© G.s.k. ‘15

Carpe Diem Haiku Writing Techniques #15 Metaphor

A classical examples of haiku metaphor by Basho:

on a bare branch
a crow lands
autumn dusk

© Basho (Tr. Jane Reichhold)

a closer look:

kare eda ni karasu no tomarikeri aki no kure

on a bare branch
a crow has stopped
autumn dusk

© Basho (Tr. Stephen Wolfe)

Our host Chèvrefeuille’s examples:

black on white
a flight of crows settles down
in an autumn field

© Chèvrefeuille

tired of spinning
the cat takes time for itself
and washes his face

© Chèvrefeuille

fly like an eagle
as free as a bird in the sky
living my dream

© Chèvrefeuille

Morning Haiku and Waka – The Colour Blue – September 20, 2015

Blue Morning

after the snowfall
she huddles in her jacket
under piercing blue skies

the old man watches
with watery blue eyes
the commuters pass

in early morning
the lake and sky blend
in shimmering blue

crisp and clear
after the roaring tempest
blue skies

she meets her Blue Prince
living happily ever after
– between arguments

© G.s.k. ‘15

Shuukan – February 27, 2015

[…] The arrow is the intention. It is what unites the strength of the bow with the centre of the target. The intention must be crystal-clear, straight and balanced. Once the arrow has gone, it will not come back, so it is better to interrupt a shot, because the movements that led up to it were not sufficiently precise and correct, than to act carelessly, simply because the bow was fully drawn and the target was waiting. […]   “The Way of the Bow”: Paulo Coelho

breath in breath out
centered and now serene
give your advice

the rain
falls throughout the valley
on trash heaps and fields
no choices or intentions
rain is a force of nature

a small child
knows no good or evil
its arrows fly
but without clear intentions
the arrows fly astray

here and now
the river flows and wind blows
the flowers bloom
birds sing and fly freely
where are intentions

action reaction
the arrow flies true and pure
the target’s askew
illusive are intentions
in dual reality

the only “one” is Tao
the rest is duality
arrows fly to fail

© G.s.k. ‘15

Theoretically, I understand the point the bow master wishes to make, but there’s a false premise … which is that an individual’s “intentions” are the arrow … of course, you may intend to do something and think your intentions are pure, and maybe they actually are, but without taking into consideration the reality around you, no matter how pure your intentions, you’ll fail to reach your goal and perhaps through no fault of your own … you cannot move in this world of duality without taking into consideration the “other” … whose intentions might not be pure at all.

So I suppose here what I should first be doing is stepping outside of expectations … so we can intend to do this or that … but we mustn’t expect anything … hmmm … lots to mediate on here!

 

Carpe Diem Shuukan – intentions

Dawn thoughts – An owl .. and little seriousness – February 25, 2015

 rumble chop chop chop …
the helicopter flies low
an owl screeches

§§§

the owl flies madly
around the empty court-yard
screeching loudly
alighting on a roof top
it preens its feathers

§§§

wind rumbles my roof
swooshing through the valley
clear skies at dawn

§§§

so many questions
crowd my mind this morning
what’s reality
emptiness between atoms
emptiness in space
yet … the universe dances
does god exist …
a primal force with a plan
or man’s creation:
the lonely fearful hunter
sitting whittling wood
said, I made this bow, it’s good
who made this world …
many illusions
that we think of as logic
are just fantasies
these thoughts patterns ideas
swirl in early dawn’s first light

§§§

the owl on the roof
looks around at the sun rise
his calm restored

© G.s.k. 15

Monday Morning Haiku and Waka – February 16, 2015

blue light-house
harbour and shoal warning
electric blue

plunk kerplunk plop
from the broken gutter
rain drop song

water on water
rain drops fall in the lake
each a life’s circle

© G.s.k. 15

Shashin no uta – 写真 の 歌 – February 11, 2015

snow by lamp light
reflect on the olive branch
a dead leaf on stone

© G.s.k. ‘15

Shashin-no-uta (写真 の 歌), a photographic song – this is the final name that Jen from Blog it or Lose it! created for the photoku … which unfortunately she’s no longer hosting … I like this genre too much to give it up just because there’s no prompt for which to write.  Lately I’ve noticed that I’ve been writing far too many prompted works – yes, it’s nice to be able to have people read what we write and prompts are a way to get that readership … but  – so here’s an unprompted Shashin no uta.

Morning Haiku and Waka – Impressions – February 1, 2015

hot autumn wind
pink sun setting on the fields
a warbling finch

harvest over
fields of empty straw huts
old scarecrow is gone

last cicada song
swallows and ducks leaving
autumn sunset

smell the cut hay
in this hot fall afternoon
winter thoughts

© G.s.k. ‘15

Last week we read on Carpe Diem Haiku Kai – that a haiku is more like an impression in the sense of the Impressionistic Movement during the 1870s and 1880s.  This month we will be practising and hopefully making this a part of our haiku “nature” … I personally love Impressionism and Post-Impressionism very much … and I do so agree that a haiku is not a snapshot of a situation … there’s no A-HA .. in a snapshot (usually) but it’s an impression!

Here is a haiku written by our host:

in the faint light
of the departing sun –
a sedge warbler sings

© Chèvrefeuille