Jane Reichold on Basho

A Plate Between Us

A PLATE BETWEEN US

hiyahiya to kabe wo fumaete hirune kana

how cool the feeling
of a wall against the feet —
siesta —basho

sunlight squeezes through
the shuttered window —lynne

as she takes her walk
the purling of a brook
over rocks —dharmajim

yes, the earth moved
for me too, lil' darlin' —moi

on clear winter nights
I still listen for
your footsteps —karen

oh, gone Samarra's dome
its minarets! —sbasil

news at six
another sluggish day
on Wall Street —chris

fog travels among
the speeding vehicles —kala

tarot cards
spread by gypsy girls
under a full moon —karen

we pile the bones
on a plate between us —josh

apple blossom
and the softening
of tractor ruts —lynne

silkworms dream
of spinning to the stars —norman

Composed 5 June to 3 July 2007.

First published in Lynx, October 2007

Lynne Rees, Wales (lynne)
Jim Wilson, USA (dharmajim)
Moira Richards, South Africa (moi)
Karen Cesar, USA (karen)
Raihana Dewji, USA (sbasil)
CW Hawes, USA (chris)
Kala Ramesh, India (kala)
Josh Wikoff, USA (josh)
Norman Darlington, Ireland - sabaki (norman)
with a hokku by Matsuo Basho (tr. Darlington):

soap bubbles

soap bubbles...
our little one sings
her heart out

out of the blue

out of the blue
into the blue
a whale's breath


5th place tie in The 2009 Shiki Special Kukai.

This competition, in memory of William J. Higginson,was the seventh to be held and was sponsored by the Ehime Culture Foundation and Hiromi Inoue and Kim Komurasaki of the Shiki Team at Matsuyama.

I'm thrilled to have a poem so well received by this group of accomplished haijin.


Here's a link to the 794 entries by 292 poets.

A few haiga

My friend Dave Rosenberg showed these to me last month. He graciously agreed to let me share them with you. Enjoy.










Share your thoughts with Dave in the comments and take a virtual adventure at his website tripsource.com featuring stories from travelers around the world.

autumn dusk

How wonderful to be recognized with an honorable mention from judges Toru Haga and Isamu Hashimoto in the 12th Mainichi Haiku Contest.

autumn dusk
a little blood
on my toothbrush

Click here for complete results.

winter solstice

winter solstice
she lets me in
on a secret

We'll be in Canada and California in the coming weeks.

Wishing you all health and joy through the holidays and into next year...

double rainbow

double rainbow

she wraps our child
with her arms

river of heaven

river of heaven
stones in the sand
cold and smooth

amanogawa - literally 'River of Heaven' referring to the Milky Way.

From The Five Hundred Essential Japanese Season Words as selected by Kenkichi Yamamoto and translated by Kris Young Kondo and William J. Higginson

bella

12.16.08 I'll leave this up, but I have disabled comments as this has been consistently misconstrued in an uncomfortable way. Fault, of course, is mine and I'll rethink this piece. Thank you all for visiting and, especially, for your comments.

you lay in the silence before words which was so still that i nearly stopped breathing and it made me want to lay there with you too until your first soft small breath would measure out something i would need to know the size of and i was nervous that it wouldn't happen but then it did and i was waiting again breathless

autumn...

a child with golden hair
turns into the wind*

*a slightly different version of the haiku first appeared in the Shiki kukai, Sept. '08

no path but this one...autumn deepens

poem by Santoka Taneda
photo from msnbcmedia.com

december

december fishermen reel in silence

an old woman

an old woman
smooths her yoga mat
ocean sunrise

jupiter

jupiter
the cat's question
in his tail

short of breath

short of breath
at the top of the hill
nearly autumn

first published 11/8/08 in The Mainichi Daily News

Sense Switching

I've recently re- read a very helpful article by Jane Reichold entitled Haiku Techniques, first published in the Autumn, 2000 issue of Frogpond, Journal of the Haiku Society of America. It can be found here: http://www.ahapoetry.com/h_t_techniques.html I cordially invite you all to practice your haiku technique with me on this blog.

I hope we can all agree that, at a minimum, the haiku is a short, imagistic poem. These images come to us via the senses - typically sight, as that is our dominant one. It follows that the bulk of haiku is dominated by visual imagery. Here, we'll mix that up. Let's practice a haiku technique known as "sense switching".

So, post a poem as a comment, simply begining with one sensory image, then switching to a another. Sight to smell, sound to feel, etc.

I'd also like to encourage commentary, feedback, critique, questions, etc. In short, I hope this can become a workshop space for us to practice the technique of this wonderful poetic form which has us so firmly in its grip.

Aloha and enjoy!

Venus subiendo

Venus subiendo
en frente del hotel
espuma del mar

.

Venus rising

in front of the hotel

sea foam

.

first published in Asfalto Mohado(Wet Asphalt) - a monthly, Spanish-language kukai

dusk

dusk approaching footsteps echo from the burial site

Beautiful Puna - a haibun

Nani Puna po i ke 'ala.

Plumeria, mango, orchid, papaya, ginger, coconut, hybiscus, breadfruit, lehua, soursop, jasmine, guava, jacaranda, avocado, heliconia, pineapple, anthurium, banana, poinciana, and passionfruit.

sultry night
a matchstick
bursts into flame

wind chimes

wind chimes
the cat in the window
spreads its toes

Hiroshima Day

Hiroshima Day

my daughters pick

the mushrooms off

empty spaces

I take the dog for a walk in the evergreen forest behind the house. She scurries ahead, sniffing at deer shit and here a woodchuck burrow or there the base of a spruce. We arrive at a spot where I keep two wicker chairs with a view of the wildlife trails that wind down the ridge. I come here often to sit and watch and listen but, most of all, to think. So I sit. She disappears over the ridge line. And I listen. And think too. About how hard the last winter was. How my forty years have converged like a wheel's spokes on the hole in my center. And I think I may have been depressed. But I feel like I've come around now. I wonder if maybe it is this very hole upon which everything hinges. And I recall that the Tao Teh Ching says …it is the empty space within the vessel that makes it useful.

                                       autumn half-light    a bark
                                                            echoes    up the canyon

Simply Haiku, Summer 2008

she squeezes

she squeezes

until the tomato bursts

Independence Day

coqui frogs

coqui frogs quieter late night heat

moonlight

moonlight

on the lava field

the tone of it